The Lovers Road
by PixelSparks
Summary: Peter and Ray's relationship continues to grow, but there's some surprises and obstacles in store for the lovestruck pair, factors that stand to tear them apart. Will their bond be strong enough? [PeterxRay]
1. Truth Will Out

"What on earth is that, Ray?" Winston asked as he walked into Ray's office one evening in early winter, finding the man wrist deep in bits of wiring and metal. A set of magnifying lens goggles were pushed up on his head, making his short red hair stick up haphazardly.

"It- that is to say, THESE-" Ray pushed his goggles up off his face, his boyish enthusiasm lighting his face "are emergency beacons!"

"Beacons? What on earth for?" Winston asked, picking up the small, palm-sized button marked with their logo. He had to hand it to Ray, the man was a genius with repairing and building things. It was his hard work that kept Ecto-1 from falling apart under all the stress.

"Well, they're in case we ever get stranded from each other, it'll send out an emergency signal, which this thing-" here he held up a receiver unit "Will respond to. So far I've only built the one receiver, so I thought it'd stay here with Janine! Whaddya think?"

"Well, it's impressive, I'll give it that. Have you tested it out yet?"

"Yes, I have. I've fitted a sound chip to it so it should be fairly audible. I need to get a better speaker and alter the sound so it's more tailored to our siren, but for now, I'm pretty happy."

Ray beamed happily as he finished his spiel, standing up from his chair in a blizzard of clipped wires and bits of plastic.

"I'm gonna show this to Egon!" He announced happily to the amused Winston, "it's a rare day that I get to surprise HIM."

"It's dinnertime, Ray." Winston grabbed his collar to slow him down as he began hunting for the notes he'd made "cool your jets, boy genius."

* * *

Ray fidgeted all the way through dinner, earning a good many funny looks from Peter, who wondered what was making his friend so fidgety?

At last, as they all assembled on the couch, he unveiled his new invention. To his glee, Egon WAS pleasantly impressed by it.

"Very useful," the blonde physicist nodded as he read the documentation Ray had created "I can certainly see the practical uses for this on larger busts or even other dimensions, with enough tuning!"

Peter smiled to himself as Ray clapped his hands, grinning ear to ear. The guy was pure concentrated adorable, doubly so when he was in such a happy mood. Ray happened to take his eyes off Dr Spengler's study of his work and glance over at him just then and Peter gave him a grin and a thumbs up. Ray felt himself flush happily, it'd been a good day...

* * *

They did a field test with the beacon-badges the next day, in carefully staged conditions with Janine monitoring the radio receiver from HQ. Bar the sound that it made being a little on the too-loud side (it even startled Slimer!), she reported back that it was functioning just fine.

"Excellent work, Ray. Let me know if you make further alterations, will you?" Egon asked as they tidied away the test site at an empty storage lot.

"Sure thing." Ray chirped happily as he got behind the wheel and drove them back to HQ, grinning ear to ear. The others shared looks, this invention had clearly been in the works for awhile, judging by how excited Ray had been to present it!

* * *

Ray ran ideas for potential upgrades through his head as he took the trash out, shivering at the chill in the air. The days were getting shorter and colder as the winter months drew in tightly.

"Hay, you." the familiar murmur made Ray snap out of his daydreams as he reached the front door.

"Peter!" he greeted him warmly, feeling his heart skip a beat at the way Peter looked, leaning casually against the doorway, eyes fixed on HIM.

"Impressive work today." Peter smiled, taking in his partner's tousled red hair and content smile. Sweet sanity, he wanted to kiss Ray so badly…

"Thanks," Ray flushed "After the last time we all got separated, it seemed like a good idea. It still needs a lot of work to fine tune it, but..."

Before Peter could open his mouth to tell Ray to stop downplaying his smarts, a finger prodded him between the shoulder blades. Venkman yelped, spinning round to see Egon standing behind him, bundled up in a scarf, coat and gloves.

"Perhaps you could hold this conversation elsewhere, you two?" he asked bluntly, "I need to get outside."

"Oops, sorry Egon!" Ray said with a sheepish grin, scuttling back to one side. Peter rolled his eyes at Egon's back as the doctor left, then simply shrugged. Egon was very pragmatic and to-the-point, if nothing else.

* * *

Watching them scurry inside as he walked down the pavement, Egon shrugged and pondered why they'd chosen to have a talk out in the chill evening air, wouldn't inside where it was warm make more sense?

He was still ruminating on this when he bumped into someone standing just around the corner. With a muffled grunt, Egon landed on his rear, glasses knocked askew.

"Hm? Oh, my apologies." a blurry hand reached down and helped the scientist to his feet. Egon dusted himself off, adjusting his glasses as he did.

"It's my fault, I wasn't paying attention-" he looked up as he set his glasses back in place, seeing the figure was gone. Puzzled, he pulled the PKE meter from his pocket and checked his surroundings, but whoever it was hadn't been a ghost, just a very shy person.

"Odd." Egon muttered, then dismissed the incident and continued on his way.

Deep in the shadows of the alley the figure sighed, that'd been too close. Luckily it had been the 'airheaded' one of the group, the one that as far as he could tell was liable to walk into a closed door if he was sufficiently absorbed in his thoughts. Supposedly, he was some kind of genius, not that the man cared much, that one wasn't the problem.

He continued his surveillance from a secondary spot after that, biding his time for now.

* * *

That was how the days passed, until the final straw came that pushed his plan ahead by a few weeks.

It was just Ray and Peter alone in the firehouse that afternoon, which meant as much close contact as they could. They knew they wouldn't have long before Janine or the others came back from their various individual errands. They took whatever chances they could get for a kiss or sometimes more...

It began with Peter saying he needed a shower and did Ray fancy joining him? A blushing Ray didn't hesitate, setting his comic book aside and padding along behind Peter as he headed for the bathroom. Their fingers entwined without a word being spoken between them and they paused briefly to share a kiss at the entrance to the bathroom. Peter's eyes gleamed as he looked at his partner, toying with the zip on his jumpsuit and sending shivers of anticipation up Ray's spine.

"My Ray." was all Venkman said as he reluctantly released his partner so he could set about running the water. Ray felt a little light headed, Peter was such a passionate fellow when something caught his eye and part of Ray still thought he'd won some sort of lottery to get Peter's affections the way he did.

Peter looked at Ray over his shoulder as he turned the taps and switched on the shower. The sweet Ghostbuster stood by the doorway, whatever was on his mind making him smile. It reminded Peter of their first night together, when he'd woken to see Ray staring dreamily out the window, the light catching his eyes…

Ray blushed as he realised Peter was watching him and set about removing and folding his clothes neatly, but was soon interrupted when Peter's arms wrapped his middle and the brunette nipped at Ray's neck.

Ray gave a squeak which trailed off into a moan as a lovely shudder went up his spine. It was a sound of want and need, for he'd been thinking about a moment just like this for days now. They both had, in fact.

"You make the cutest noises." Peter whispered in Ray's ear.

"O-oh?' Ray stammered, biting his lip as his heart-rate picked up as Peter continued to nuzzle into his neck. Ray's willpower was fading fast, not that he'd intended to deny Venkman...

"I've missed your voice, Ray." Peter whispered as he plucked at Ray's underwear, pressing against Ray's back as he deftly sent the garment fluttering to the damp floor.

No way was the shower going to be a short one after THAT sentence.

Scarcely had Ray turned round then he was scooped up by Peter, a soft gasp escaping his lips as the chill of the tiles pressed against his back. Peter's warm, strong arms supported him as he braced Ray against the bathroom wall, pressing close so there was no longer any space between their bodies.

In contrast to the cold of the tile, Peter's hands were hot and Ray fancied they left an imprint on his skin as they held tightly to him. He wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders, idly brushing a kiss across an old scar from Peter's frat days.

The shower muffled their voices as they wasted no further time in giving in to the secret temptation they kept so secret from the others.

* * *

Ray bit back a soft groan as Peter reluctantly released him from his hold and set him on his feet after they finished. Peter flushed as Ray reached up and brushed his floppy fringe out of his eyes, an elated smile on the red-head's face.

They stumbled into the shower, grinning at each other as they washed away the evidence of their actions. Ray's heart ached as he seen Peter tense up at a faint sound, before relaxing as he realised it was just the boiler. They were always on edge, even at their most uninhibited, neither wanted to think what would happen if the others were to disprove somehow. They were like a family in that sense, living together and watching over one another, but there was a downside to it as the lovers had found out. That being that a family's approval means more than most care to confront…

* * *

Ray wrapped his towel around his waist as he trailed after Venkman back to the bedroom, idly entertaining a fantasy where he could come down to breakfast and wrap his arms around Peter's shoulder, nuzzling into his hair and whispering good morning while nobody batted an eyelid.

"How long were we in there?" Peter grinned at Ray as they dressed. He shrugged a shirt on over his head, smoothing the creases out of it as he turned to look at his partner "reckon the others will be back soon."

"Yeah..." Ray sighed, twisting the bottom of his shirt between his fingers. The thought had been weighing on his mind more and more lately, ever since Janine had remarked offhandedly how much happier the usually irate Peter seemed. He'd found himself wishing he could confide in her, Janine was sweet, she wouldn't laugh at them...

Peter's next smart quip died on his lips as Ray shuffled uneasily, fiddling with his shirt hem. Why did he look so anxious all of a sudden?

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" Venkman sat on his bed and patted his lap, pulling Ray down soon as he got near enough. Ray smiled guiltily and toyed with Peter's collar, a sure sign something was on his mind. Peter linked his arms around Ray's middle, kissing his lips gently and feeling Ray press longingly into him.

"Spill, Raymond." he said firmly as he let him go and the other Ghostbuster sighed gloomily.

"Spiilll….." Peter prodded verbally, tickling Ray's sides with his fingers. Ray squirmed atop his lap ( _oh boy.._ ) and it took all Peter's willpower to keep still.

Ray sighed and finally met Peter's eyes, deciding he may as well be honest.

"I wish- I wish we didn't have to hide like this, Peter! I hate keeping something so special a secret from the others, they're our friends Peter. Can we not just…?" he trailed off, guilt dampening his spirits.

His heart sank further as Peter winced and broke eye contact, biting his lip and tensing up.

"Don't you trust them?" Ray pleaded.

Peter idly stroked Ray's sides with his thumbs as he tried to give the man an answer he deserved, but he just couldn't.

"I do, Ray. But I just- I can't do it, not yet." his reluctance was clear in his voice.

"Why don't you want them to know, Peter?" Ray asked and Peter sighed, caressing Ray's worried face with one hand, before settling it on the back of the red-head's neck.

"I don't know," he said at last, slowly rubbing circles on the spot, noting how warm Rays skin was. He was still hot from the shower, Peter curled damp red strands of hair around his fingers as he deliberated.

"I guess I don't want them to find out, only to suddenly find myself at a distance from them. They couldn't possibly stay upset at YOU, Ray- you're just too sweet a guy. But me- I've never been taken seriously, not for long at least."

"Peter?" Ray asked, confusion and sympathy warring for control.

"I've spent so long playing two sides of myself, Ray, the smart one and the flirt/con-man side, that nobody knows which is real any more-"

He was cut off by Ray kissing him firmly, those warm lips claiming his and making him sigh happily. He was concerned however, upon seeing Ray looking on the verge of worried tears when he let him go. "Ray?"

"You're wrong Peter, I know you! So do the others. Please don't talk about yourself that way-" Ray shook his head adamantly "I can't stand it-!"

"Hush now, it's alright." Peter nuzzled him, wanting to erase that sadness from Stantz's features. He fussed over him until Ray calmed down, the worried trembling of his gentle hands stilling at last. He hated seeing Ray so anxious, he was such a sweet guy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, Ray. C'mon, let's go get something to eat, OK?" he offered, making Ray perk up a little.

* * *

But as they descended the stairs, Ray noted Peter hadn't answered his question.

Peter busied himself making an omelette, with Ray handing him ingredients and perching on the counter top to watch him cook.

While Peter hummed and stirred the omelette, Ray stared down at his shoes, lightly kicking his feet so they made a tapping sound every time they bumped against the kitchen cupboards. It took him a second to realise that Peter was humming along and that it was the Dopey Dog theme song he was drumming.

"Aww, that was fun." Peter sulked when Ray stopped.

"My legs are tired." Ray joked weakly and Peter grinned.

"Was I too demanding earlier?" he teased, tapping Ray's nose with the spatula as he spoke. Ray went red, he was so adorably innocent even after this long together and it was part of what Peter loved about him. Ray smiled softly and wiped batter off his nose, shaking his head ruefully.

Peter set the pan on simmer and moved to stand in front of Ray, wrapping the red-head in his arms and kissing him deeply. Ray gave a happy little sigh, letting his worry dissolve at the taste of Peter's kiss. Peter's hands drifted down to the utility belt on the man's uniform, hooking his fingers in it and using it to pull Ray's body as close to his own as he could. Then, he moved them down to rest on Ray's upper thighs as the kisses grew deeper and deeper.

They parted at last, faces flushed.

"Delicious." Peter teased, licking his lips. Ray flushed and ran a hand through Peter's hair, resting his hands on his shoulders. They were about to resume kissing when the smell of burning reached their noses. Peter hurriedly had to let Ray go and take the pan off the heat before it got too burnt.

"Phew, it's fine, just a little toasted." he chuckled "I'd say its still edible. Or, if this looks too gross, I could always eat y-"

"Peter!" Ray objected, turning beet red as he recalled Peter's little "present" to him the day they'd had that argument over Peter's wanton flirting. Peter clearly recalled it, going by the devilish grin on his face as Ray met his eyes.

"So damned cute, Raymond." he repeated, a phrase he used whenever Ray was being too adorable for words.

Ray gave him a stern look, but followed it up with a kiss on the lips as he hopped down from the counter.

"Maybe another time?" he murmured silkily, making Peter's eyebrows raise so high they vanished under his fringe.

"Count on it." Peter retorted as Ray fetched the plates and they set down to eat.

* * *

With the meal over with, Ray went downstairs to work on the new receiver for his emergency beacons. Peter remained upstairs to watch a TV show, but once it was over, he came back to his partner's side, curious to see what he was doing.

He rested his chin on Ray's shoulder as the other Ghostbuster tinkered with the machine.

"How's it going?" he asked, the vibrations running down Ray's spine and making him laugh.

"It's fine, _-Pffff-_ Peter, that tickles!"

Peter grinned, continuing to hum merrily so the sensation made Ray fidget and giggle.

"Cut that out!" Ray turned round at last, grabbing Peter by the collar and pushing him back until he was pressed against Ecto-1. There, he kissed him hard, heart pounding at the risk level inherent in making out right in the entrance to HQ. All it would take was one of the guys opening the door right now and- oops. But he didn't care, if Peter was going to tempt him, he'd better prepare for the consequences.

Peter responded very eagerly, wrapping his arms around Ray and letting one hand pat his bottom as Ray let him go.

"That's my Ray," He teased, giving Ray one last quick peck on the lips before releasing him "so how's work?"

"Oh, it's fine!" Ray beamed, gesturing to the unit "all that's left is to test it."

"Nice," Peter grinned as he examined the new model. This one had what looked to be a military garde sonar screen that took up the biggest part of it. "Where'd you get the parts from?"

"I have an old friend who works for the army," Ray smiled "I asked him to keep an eye out for decommissioned parts he can sell me, plus he's always finding little bits and pieces left over from demolition of gear to boot."

They were so absorbed in the equipment that they didn't see a person spying on them from the window in the alley next door.

The stranger had observed impassively as he seen that bright-eyed, red-haired man start work on the funny-looking bit of kit on the bench, but where was the other one?

He grinned now, as Venkman finally made an appearance.

-There you are.- he thought, with a smirk. But his grin soon turned to a scowl as he seen Venkman wrapping himself around the red-head, doing something to make him laugh, resulting in the red-head pushing Peter back against the side of the car and kissing him fiercely. Venkman didn't fight him off, much to the observers fury, instead he held him as close as he could, causally feeling him up as they parted.

He couldn't hear what was going on, but he watched as they turned back to the bench, where upon the red-head- what was his name again anyway?- explained whatever he was building. Venkman seemed very impressed, slipping an arm around the other man's waist and nuzzling his hair. The red-head blushed at whatever compliment Venkman had given him and the observer fumed as they kissed again, an obvious passion in their movements.

He retreated from his hiding spot before he was forced to witness anything further.

* * *

His blood boiled, how DARE Venkman do this to him? He'd spent all that time away from New York, torn away from the one he'd loved by his own brother, all because of the family business. Now, he'd finally set up the headquarters he wanted in New York and had been trying to find a way to announce his return to the Ghostbuster's life. He truly believed they'd had a connection, those dates they gone on- he'd even had the chance to sleep with Venkman, recalled the two of them doing the deed in a plush four-poster bed at a hotel.

He'd started observing the firehouse at a distance, trying to gauge when would be a good time to get Venkman alone, away from those nosy friends of his. But now it seemed the selfish fool was sleeping with his co-worker.

-What does he see in him?- he scowled as he hatched a plan to get Venkman's attention for himself. First he had to get him away from that other man, keep him somewhere safe. Then he'd deal with the shameless red-head that had seduced HIS Peter.

* * *

Ray and Peter were entirely unaware of this, too busy laughing and chattering as they both went back upstairs to watch TV and wait for the others to return so that Ray could test out his locater mark II.

* * *

Three days passed, during which the new beacon locator proved a superior upgrade to its previous version, giving a much more accurate reading. That the beacons looked like innocuous little badges on their lapels was a bonus, nobody would look twice at them.

"Nice one Ray." Winston admired the innocent looking badge, making Ray beam happily. Between Egon's IQ and Ray's engineering know-how, they were pretty much set for whatever came their way!

* * *

The most fateful day in the ghostbusting lovers' romance dawned chilly but bright to start with. The four of them got through two early calls, three more time consuming ones, came home and passed out, then went out again for another.

* * *

"It's OK guys, you're clear for the afternoon-" Just as Janine spoke, the phone rang and the boys uttered a collective groan. Ray whined softly, slumping against the side of the desk.

"Yes? Oh hi, this is the Ghostbusters. You got spooks, we got traps- uh huh….yes, I see." Janine nodded as she wrote something down "Of course."

The boys gave her despairing looks as she put the phone down..

"It's just a small job, this wont take long, I'm sure." Janine softened the blow as best she could.

"Why don't just two of us go?" Winston suggested.

"Indeed, I require more parts-" Egon began.

"And it's my turn to pick up the groceries, so we may as well go." Winston finished up, nodding to Spengler.

"Gladly." Peter wheezed, crashing onto the floor, face-down, with a muffled snore. Ray yawned and nodded his agreement as he flopped down into a spare chair at the table behind Janine's desk.

After a minute or two they both migrated upstairs to the couch, Peter yawning softly as he did.

* * *

Janine got another call not long after, but this time it was a message saying there was a package awaiting pickup, addressed to the Ghostbusters, at a local courier company. She told the boys she'd be back asap and strolled out, humming to herself.

"I need a drink;" Peter said he rolled off the couch and got to his feet "want one?"

Ray nodded drowsily, hearing Peter amble over to the fridge and pry it open.

"Crap, we're out of soda.." Peter sighed a moment later, making Ray jolt back to wakefulness.

"Oh, Well, I'll go get some." Ray offered, bounding off the couch. He grabbed his coat and headed downstairs, Peter following close behind "you stay here, keep an ear on the phone."

"You got it!" Peter gave a mock salute as he sat at the desk, watching Ray as he left.

-If ogling him is wrong, I don't wanna be right!- he thought, grinning ear-to-ear as he leant back in Janine's chair, putting his feet up on her desk. He'd been sitting there about a minute or two when he heard the door open and footsteps tapping across the floor towards him.

"That was fast, Ray. You're gonna wanna rest after THAT fast a food run, wanna sit on my lap?"

"So, it's Ray is it?" an unfamiliar voice said and Peter yelped loudly, opening his eyes. Someone was standing over him, holding a handkerchief. Before Peter could yell or flee, the linen was clamped over his nose and mouth. He struggled futilely, but his head was getting fuzzier and fuzzier.

-Ray...- he thought, his fingers scrabbling for something to hit this guy over the head with as he couldn't reach the beacon button, not with this guy restraining him. His fingers fumbled across something in his attacker's pocket and he dimly felt it cut his finger, then he blacked out, body giving in to the knock-out drug.

The one who'd been following Peter all this time laid him down on the floor now. He returned to his car, coming back with a large rug. He used this to made it look like he was simply moving things in and out of the firehouse. But he'd chosen his time well, there was little traffic here at this hour and he'd gotten the secretary out of the way with a hoax phone call. The fact that this "Ray" had essentially left Peter all alone only made things easier…

He was so busy casually abducting his former lover that he didn't see the business card Peter had dislodged in his struggles, now wedged between the cracks in the floorboards. He only had eyes for what he'd come for..

He drove away, the unconscious Ghostbuster in the back of his car.

* * *

"Peter! I'm back!" Ray called cheerily as he strode in the door "I got your favourite-" he cut off as he seen Peter wasn't at the desk.

He called his name, assuming he was probably just in the bathroom or the kitchen. But his voice only echoed back at him, there was no response. He peered round the back of the desk in case Peter was hiding behind it, for he'd done that to Winston once, genuinely startling poor Zeddemore.

He seen a bunch of objects scattered here and there, as well as a seemingly blank square of card wedged between a crack in the floorboard.

Something was wrong, he just knew it…

He dumped the grocery bag down on the desk, kneeling down amongst the wreckage. He thought back to all those mystery shows he and the others liked to watch; these were signs of a struggle, someone had been in here, had they kidnapped or hurt Peter?

Ray began to panic, fingers trembling as he reached for the slice of card that peeked out from between two of the floorboards. It slipped away and Ray uttered a desperate cry, racing to his workbench for a chisel.

Eventually, after much force, he succeeded in lifting the board just enough to rip it out with his bare hands. The jagged wood tore bloody cuts along his hands but he didn't pay any heed, barely felt it. He couldn't take the chance that that card was a clue...

He lifted the card using a pair of tweezers normally used for manipulating small wires. Bringing it up to his face, he turned it over. There was a thin smudge of blood on the edge and a business address in fancy letters.

-Could that blood be Peter's?- he worried, getting up and running upstairs to use Egon's computer.

He shakily logged on and booted up with a local business directory program, Egon always kept it updated and it made getting to their clients easier and faster. The address Rays shaking hands typed in came up with a main building address here in NY, along with two listed 'licenses pending' for other premises. Ray thought about raiding the main office, but if this guy had kidnapped Peter, why would he take him someplace so public? Especially since, if given half a chance, Peter would kick up so much fuss he'd bring every cop in the area down on the place like a ton of bricks.

Ray looked at his hands, then at the blood spattered on the keys. He grimaced and ran for the medkit, cleaned his hands up and wrapped them in bandages. Then he took off, the door slamming behind him. In his frantic state and unvoiced guilt that his leaving had left the door open for Peter's kidnapping, he didn't think to wait for his friends to return with Ecto-1. He'd scarcely been gone five minutes before a rather cross Janine came in.

* * *

"Hmph, stupid couriers, "no item on database- ha!" she stopped short as she seen the place was inexplicably empty. She called for the boys as she approached her desk, but got no answer and no note had been left either. Then she seen a discarded grocery bag on her desk, a mess on the floor and a ripped-up floorboard surrounded by specks of blood.

"Just what went on here?!" Janine cried. She grabbed the radio, calling Egon straight away.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a newly redecorated warehouse, Peter finally stirred. He soon snapped completely awake when he realised he was tied to a chair.

"Hey, what's goin' on here?" he demanded.

"Oh good, you're awake." a slightly off-kilter voice reached Peter's ear just as someone's hands came to rest on his shoulders.

"Get off me!" Peter snapped in a furious panic, trying to wriggle round and get a look, but the bonds were too tight. The figure came round to face him and Peter stared again, why did he look familiar?

"Who are you?" he asked uneasily.

"I'm hurt, Peter, really I am. Did you forget me so easily?" the man said, laughing brittlely. Peter continued to stare blankly at him in dazed confusion so the man elaborated "I'll assume it's the chloroform I dosed you with and your memory will come back soon."

"Why have you kidnapped me?" Peter said evenly, trying to feel if there was any way out of his bonds.

"Because it was time, Peter. We've been apart for too long, I missed you."

NOW Peter recognised him, he'd a brief fling with this guy, but it hadn't ended well.

"Did you forget?" he pointed out, hoping he'd remembered this right "I broke it off? A small thing like you being too controlling, ring any bells?"

He bit back a curse as the guy holding him captive slapped him hard enough to make his head spin. He coughed, tasting blood and a quick check with his tongue confirmed he'd bitten his lip and he growled, all pretence of civility gone as he glared at his captor.

"Let me go right this instant, you deranged lunatic!"

But all that earned him was another slap.

"Really Peter, you used to be so charming. Whatever has that creature done to you?"

"What creature?" Peter asked, did this guy think he was possessed? The guy in front of him laughed, pressing a hand to chest and looking wounded.

"Why, that "Ray", who else? I seen how he pushed you around that day in the fire-station. It was rather cruel of him, pushing you up against that car-"

"Are you insane?" Peter gaped as the penny dropped and a shiver creeped up his spine "Two things; Ray's about the gentlest guy in the whole goddamn world and on that note, YOU WERE SPYING ON US?!"

"I had to make sure I could get you alone, especially after seeing that monster groping and rough handling you-"

"Shut up, ass!"

"-you weren't safe with that creep. He must've forced you to want him, why else would you treat what we had, so callously?"

"Because whatever we USED to have is long gone." Peter barked "You said you were moving, tried to make me quit my job and go with you and got all crazy when I refused!"

"I know what's best Peter," the guy said and Peter felt like nothing he said was even piercing the veil of lunacy surrounding this man "I haven't forgotten how adorable you were that last night, the way you shouted my name, you were so _very_ delicious to bed."

Peter shuddered, recalling this guys name now. One of the few times he'd let someone else nail HIM.

"Landon, isn't it?" he said cautiously.

A manic gleam of hope entered 'Landon's' eyes, he'd guessed correctly.

"You DO remember me! I knew you would..." He let his eyes roam over Peter, smirking softly. Leaning on the armrests with one hand, he trailed the other hand up Peter's chest, feeling it rise and fall rapidly in what he convinced himself was lust.

Peter struggled to stay calm, but couldn't hide his revulsion when Landon tangled his hand in his hair, forcing a rough kiss onto his lips. Peter coughed and swore as he was let go, how dare that creep-?

Landon uttered a low groan, Peter was just like he'd remembered… He licked his lips, frowning as he tasted something coppery.

"Oh, you're bleeding? Haha, best be careful Peter, I don't want you getting broken..."

-He's lost it, gone completely coocoo for choco puffs. Something's happened to him that's made him snap- or maybe he never got over me, crazy as that sounds.-

"And best of all, you don't need to worry about your friends finding us, I got rid of your gear!" Landon clapped his hands eagerly, as if he'd just announced he'd booked THE best restaurant for their date.

"You did what?!" Peter glanced around now and sure enough, he couldn't see his proton pack and traps. Everything had been removed from his uniform, even the small beacon badge Ray had made. Seeing Peter glance at the lapel, Landon giggled, saying he didn't want Peter trying to hurt himself with the pin. Peter shot him a withering look, whilst inwardly panicking. Without that button he had no hope of escaping.

* * *

Time ticked by, in which Landon came and went, he seemed to be setting something up and at one point Peter saw a box of ammunition in his hands. What was he doing, booby-trapping the place?

-Oh hell NO, I am not sticking around to watch him kill someone over me!-

He surreptitiously wriggled his wrists against the ropes tied around them for several pulse-pounding minutes before feeling the cuts start to bleed at last. He felt his shoulders protest against the strain, but at last he got one hand most of the way free.

With a muted gasp, he pulled the whole way free, feeling the rough rope scour his wrists as he did. Ignoring the pain, he undid the other wrist and shakily pulled himself free. Glancing around at the barely furnished room, he spotted a window set high in the wall.

He dragged the chair he'd formerly been strapped to and stood on the back of it, grabbing for the ledge with shaking fingers. He was just about to pull himself up when he heard the chilling sound of a gun cocking. His blood went cold and he risked looking over his shoulder.

Sure enough, a gun was aimed squarely at his back.

"Get down, Peter."

"The hell I will!" Peter snarled and Landon shook his head and tutted, like he was dealing with a disobedient child, not a full grown adult.

"Come down, Peter. Otherwise I shall be forced to hurt you. I don't want to, it doesn't give me any joy to punish you, but if you insist on being so cruel despite my kindness in bringing us back together, you leave me no choice."

Peter's arms were tired, but he tried to haul himself up nonetheless. There was a sudden loud bang and a chunk of plaster to the right side of the window blew away in a spray. Peter yelped, the loud noise startling him bad enough to make his hands lose their grip and he fell to the floor, one ankle twisting painfully under him. He cried out in pain, trying to stand but soon crumpling to the cold floor again.

The barrel of the gun came into view and Peter glared through pain-filled eyes at Landon.

"See, you belong here, with me.." Landon beseeched manically "stop this game, forget that imposter for your affections and stay with ME."

Peter glared at him, trying to force himself to speak, but the words jammed in his throat. Landon's expression soured again and he raised the gun, before striking his captive over the head with it and knocking him out.

This time, he tied Peter up and left him curled atop the threadbare cot in the corner of the room. He'd need the rest.

"Now to deal with this "Ray"," Landon cackled, holstering the gun and heading towards his car.

* * *

While Peter was being transported across town to the warehouse, Egon and Winston had arrived home to find the place a mess and Janine in tears.

"Egon!" She ran over to him, throwing her arms around him and burying her head in his shoulder "T-they're gone, both of them!"

"Who? Wait, you don't mean Ray and Peter?!" Winston went pale "what happened?"

Janine told them the little she knew as she pointed to the blood spatters by the ripped up floorboard. Egon took a sample and they all went upstairs to his lab where a quick test revealed it to be Ray's, making Janine worry even more. Egon noticed that, alongside the dried blood on the keys, another program was active on the computer. Bringing it up, he studied the details on the screen.

"This was Ray's work, he knows how to operate my system. Why was he looking at this?"

"A high-rise? That's a business building." Winston shook his head "I don't understand one bit of this, Egon. Did someone coerce them, were they kidnapped?"

Egon puzzled it over for a moment, then he realised the obvious truth.

"Only Peter was." He said at last, making them both look at him.

"Let me explain;" he said seriously "Peter doesn't know how to log into my system, he's always asking Ray or I to do it for him. So it had to be Ray who came up here in such a panic. The bloodstains by the desk indicate that Ray ripped up the floorboard, but why would he do that unless there was some evidence as to Peter's whereabouts under there? He must've left the firehouse just long enough for whoever our culprit is to kidnap Peter, then when he came back, he panicked and went looking for clues."

"Only to run off alone, that headstrong goof-" Winston shook his head, stomach heavy with worry "He and Peter have been hanging out a lot lately, I figured they'd gotten a shared hobby or something."

"They're sharing something alright." Janine muttered under her breath, how were these two so oblivious?

"Huh?" Egon tilted his head at her, looking puzzled "Isn't that what Winston just said, Janine?"

"Never mind." she sighed "let's just find those two."

But where to start first?

* * *

Ray meanwhile, was creeping up on the warehouse district, following the two addresses he'd memorized. The first one was a shell, it hadn't even been rebuilt yet, which meant the other one was the most likely place to start. It did occur to him then that he could just call the police and he stopped, hesitating with one hand to his radio. What if the guy hurt Peter when he heard sirens, but on the other hand, what if Ray alone wasn't enough to save him?

He was torn out of these thoughts by the loud scream of a car engine and whirled in time to see a fancy grey sports car pelting right for him!

He yelled and dove aside, dropping the handset and hitting his shoulder hard against the packed dirt floor. Wincing in pain he got to his feet and quickly took off, ducking into the shadows between the warehouses. He hitched in shallow breaths, heart pounding, where was his radio-? He looked for where it'd been, seeing only a frayed wire. It had gotten ripped off in his haste to dive away from the car, meaning he was well and truly on his own-

He glanced down, seeing the badge on his lapel. Hope flared as he pressed it hard, hoping the wiring inside wasn't damaged.

* * *

Back at HQ, the device down on the workbench went crazy, shrieking, beeping and scaring poor Slimer, who'd been sniffing at it in curiosity. He reached the stairs just as Egon came pelting down it, bumping into the doctor's chest.

"Take it easy, Slimer." Egon instructed him.

'Where Ray?" Slimer asked "Where Petey?"

"Thats what this thing is going to tell us!" Egon declared triumphantly, picking the device up and racing for Ecto-1 "scramble!"

"Egon!" He halted, looking back at Janine "do you want me to call the police?"

"Yes, have them meet us at the final destination, I'll radio you when we get there!" Egon assured her. She nodded, looking worried.

"Please come back, all of you." She whispered sorrowfully.

* * *

Ray gasped in panic as he was forced to dive aside again, the car relentlessly pursuing him. He didn't know who was driving, but he was willing to bet his salary that it was whoever was behind kidnapping Peter. Clearly, he didn't want anyone rescuing him!

Ray felt this stomach sink in horror as he hit a dead end between two warehouses and the heavy metal fence that surrounded the building behind them. He turned to face the car rushing towards him, desperately thinking of an escape as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

He spotted a length of tarp hanging from a pipe vent above his head and ran forward, praying this worked. His boots met the cars bonnet as he jumped up, grabbing the tarp and using it like a rope to swing himself the rest of the way over the car. He let go and hit the ground, rolling into a ball as best he could with the proton pack on.

He winced as he felt sharp chips of concrete slice into the bandages he'd hastily applied, cutting them to ribbons. Gasping breathlessly and feeling about to be sick, he ran off again, trying to lose his pursuer.

Thankfully, the cars limited manoeuvrability in the alley gave Ray enough leeway to lose it and the maniac driving it. As he ran behind another unpainted building, his stomach churned and he dove for a trash can just in time to be violently sick.

A pained sob tore from his throat as he finished, staggering back as shocked convulsions followed.

Spotting a bent panel behind the bin, he crawled inside the building and seen a faded bathroom sign. This warehouse was empty and full of dust, but by some miracle the plumbing still worked. Shaking, Ray took a drink and wiped his mouth, looking at his pallid reflection in the smudged mirror. Now he just had to find his way back to that warehouse at the start of his run, and avoid the loon in his car.

He pushed the door open, only to be confronted by the business end of a gun. He gulped nervously, backing up.

"You didn't think you could evade me, did you?" The guy holding it grinned coldly "your footsteps left a nice dusty trail for me, you did a very poor job of hiding your tracks, tubby."

"Screw you." Ray snapped before he could stop himself, but soon shut up when the guy stepped forward and took the safety off.

"Shut up, you. I don't know how you did it, tricking Peter into wanting you-"

"You think I tricked HIM?" Ray glared back "here's news, bud; he started it!"

"Not one word out of you!!" the guy screamed, silencing Ray.

Under threat of being shot, he was marched out of the building and towards where the car waited. But just as the guy leaned down to open the door, Ray heard a familiar whine up ahead and took a chance. He kicked the guy in the shin and threw himself back towards the alley. He heard his pursuer give chase, heard the gun cock-

Then there was a tremendous crash and the guy whipped round. Ray spun wonkily on one heel and dove back towards him, wrestling the gun from his grip. He opened the clip, throwing it as far away as he could before stuffing the empty gun into his waistband.

Landon stumbled back from Ray as the tables turned, staring in shock as he seen a bright white vehicle had slammed into his, punting the sports car several feet sideways into a wall. On the car's side was a symbol he knew well.

"Stay right there!" Winston yelled as he all but flew out of the car and tore over to the guy whilst rolling his sleeves up.

"Ray!" Egon called, jogging over to the stunned red-head who was staring blankly at them "are you hurt?"

"Huh? Yes, n-no, a few scratches, but I'm fine." Ray said shakily "we gotta find Peter, he-"

"I know Ray, I worked it out from the evidence you left behind." Egon reassured him, "we'll find him!"

Ray nodded, then flinched as he heard a volley of curse words aimed at him and the others as Winston wrestled the guy to his feet. Winston proceeded to hog-tie the kidnapper, dumping him in the back of the Ecto-1 as the other two ran over.

"Where's Peter?" Ray yelled, grabbing Landon by the lapels.

"I'm not telling you, he's mine!" the guy cackled and nothing Ray said would make him say another word. Finally, Ray got fed up and punched him hard enough to knock him out. He massaged his hand, noting the wounds from the floorboard thing had re-opened and fresh blood smeared his palms amid the shreds of bandages.

"I was close to finding the place, then he tried to run me over." he said shakily.

"Relax, Ray, the police should be here soon-" Egon said calmly, but Ray was too frightened to heed him.

"I can't leave him, Egon! What if that creep's done something to him?" Ray looked close to throwing up again "he's obsessed with Peter-"

"Yeah, we got that hint." Winston raised an eyebrow "Did Peter, y'know, try the other side of the coin at some point?"

Ray winced, not wanting or knowing how to say Peter had seen both sides of said coin, enjoyed them both. He felt close to collapsing from panic already, afraid the instructions would blur from his memory the longer he stood still. Thus he took off running, hearing Egon yelling after him, followed by the familiar sound of the physicist's long stride as he ran after Ray.

-He's in shock.- Egon thought, on seeing just how out of it Ray seemed –from what we seen, that madman was trying to run him down with his car, that would be enough to shock anyone.-

Winston hopped back into the car, driving after the other two at a slow pace and keeping an eye on the backseat passenger.

"Uggh...where am I?" the guy groaned as he came to.

"A whole heap of trouble." Winston replied. Landon jolted awake, seeing where he was, how he was tied up and that one of Peter's colleagues was the one holding him hostage. He panicked, this wasn't the plan! He began thrashing about, screaming and shouting obscenities at Ray, Egon, and Winston himself. Winston just shrugged and drove on, the guy wasn't getting out of Ecto-1 any time soon, he'd tied him pretty tightly.

* * *

He reached the doors to the warehouse, seeing Ray and Egon standing there. They looked over as he approached.

"Ready?" Winston asked, readying his proton gun.

The other two nodded and Egon took the lead, edging the door open. Instantly, his sharp eyes caught the gleam of what he assumed to be a gun and he motioned the others back. Clearing some distance, they blew the door off its hinges, evaporating the trap in the process. Through some ingenious use of mirrors, tape and a pole, they disarmed some smoke bombs and finally reached the third floor.

"Peter!" Ray cried once more, heart leaping as he heard a muffled "Mmmphhh!" from down the hall.

Ray charged off, reaching the door and wrestling with the lock. But his bloodied hands couldn't grip and the lock was securely closed.

"It wont open!" he cried anxiously, feeling Egon's hand settle on his shoulder a moment later.

"Stand back." Egon said. He ran some calculations in his head and with a sudden movement, he kicked the door with such force it actually tore right off its hinges.

"Whoa." Winston remarked, but this was soon forgotten as they seen Peter, gagged and bound atop the bed. His eyes filled with relief as he seen them and Ray was soon running over and pulling the length of bedsheet from around his mouth. Peter coughed and gasped, struggling to breathe deeply. Ray's hands shook as he helped him sit up, the other two racing over to cut the ties restraining Peter.

Venkman huddled over, still coughing brokenly. Ray sat on the floor with a bump, legs turning to jelly from relief.

"What happened, Peter? Are you OK?" Winston asked, but Peter shook his head, saying he really didn't want to talk about why he'd been kidnapped.

"That guy was crazy, tried to run Ray down when he tried to get in here earlier." Winston stared around the room as he spoke, seeing a notice board covered in photos and newspaper clippings. He walked over, scanning his eyes over the contents.

"The police should be here soon," Egon informed Peter "You're safe now."

Peter nodded dumbly, why wasn't he saying anything? So much was crowding his head...

"Wow, you weren't kidding Ray, that guy was obsessed with Peter!" Winston brought the board over to the bed. It was chock full of things relating to Venkman, from newspaper headlines to photos cut from magazines. One photo that'd clearly been taken recently, showed Ray and Peter exiting a movie theatre, laughing and talking.

"Hey I remember this, you guys went to see that new sci-fi horror movie didn't you?" Winston asked and Peter nodded again.

"This explains why he was obsessed with trying to bump Ray off." Egon frowned "If this guy had an obsession with you and made the assumption that you and Ray were partners, it explains his psychopathic reaction."

Behind them, still huddled on the floor, Ray looked at Peter, so much he wanted to say but feeling it wasn't his place. Peter was the one who'd been kidnapped, if he wanted to say so…

Peter met his eye, but he was too shaken over the incident and thus bit his lip and ducked his head. Ray felt his heart ache and his shaken body didn't take kindly to this extra strain. He suddenly knew he was about to be abruptly and painfully sick again. He wobbled to his feet, running out of the room with a muffled groan.

"Ray?" Peter spoke at last, his voice a dry croak.

"What's wrong with Ray?" Winston asked "Did that weirdo hurt him, Egon? Was he injured?"

"Nothing I could get a proper look at, he would not stay still." Egon frowned "I shall see to him."

With those words he left, leaving Winston with Peter. Seeing Venkman looked shell-shocked and dazed, Winston sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's OK, Pete." He assured him "we got the guy, you're fine."

Peter nodded, but inside he felt worse than ever. Why was he such a coward?

-Ray..- he thought sadly, resting his head on his knees.

* * *

Meanwhile, Egon had tracked Ray to a bathroom down the hall, where he heard a tap running and muffled noises.

"Ray?" he pushed open the door, seeing Ray was stood at the sink, splashing water in his face "are you alright?"

"Just a little queasy, Egon. I got knocked about a bit during the chase." Ray sniffled, trying to hide his distress by pretending to cough as he dried his face, seeing he looked pale and haggard in the mirror. Egon appeared beside him, looking very concerned.

"Come on, we're bringing you and Peter to the hospital." he said kindly and Ray nodded. As they walked, Ray kept his head down and his arms wrapped around his stomach. Winston looped Peter's arm over his shoulders, supporting his friend as Peter clung gratefully onto him.

Just as the four of them reached the entrance, they heard multiple sirens on the air. Two police cars and an ambulance swiftly pulled up, much to Egon's relief. He dealt with the police while Winston went with Ray and Peter to the hospital.

* * *

Both men stayed silent through the paramedics' checkups, leading Winston to wonder if there was more to this then first met the eye. Usually, when Peter was in shock or such like, he'd be cracking immature jokes and hitting on the ladies. A blue-eyed redhead was tending to Peter, but he barely managed to answer her questions, let alone flirt. Ray was outright mute, just nodding and shaking his head to each question, his gaze distant. The Paramedic tending to him shot a glance at his female co-worker and shook his head, mouthing "severe shock" to her.

Winston wondered what had happened before they'd arrived? All he and Egon had seen was some guy holding Ray at gunpoint and upon hearing their approach, Ray had kicked his attacker and gotten out of the way before Ecto-1 ploughed into the vehicle. Those sports cars were like tissue paper compared to Ecto-1's sturdy build.

At the hospital, the two were taken to separate rooms and Winston waited for Egon to arrive.

* * *

"How are they?" the doctor asked as he met Zeddemore in the lobby.

"Peter's stirring a little, I caught him making a joke to a nurse. But I'm worried about Ray, Egon. He's barely said a word. This is bad, especially for him, I think something happened, wether that guy tried to kill him over his imagined jealously, or what..."

"We'll talk to them once they've had some rest." Egon promised "We'll stay here tonight if we have to, I'm sure I can find us a couch to sleep on."

"You're right, Egon." Winston sighed "it's been a rough day for both of them!"

* * *

Peter couldn't sleep, he tossed and turned, sighing loudly each time. The doctors had said he was fine, barring obvious shock and the bruises on his jaw. Compared to the incident where he'd face-planted a concrete floor, this was nothing. He recalled Ray bringing him to the hospital that day and staying with him all night. He felt tears prick his eyes, why hadn't he told the truth? He'd seen how unhappy Ray had looked when Peter hadn't said a word. But knowing Ray, he'd kept silent, believing Peter should be the one to say it.

-I owe him this much. I don't care if I lose my job and the respect of the others, Ray's too goddamn precious!- Peter felt himself start to crack, worried tears spilling onto the pillow as he curled up in a ball.

After he'd calmed down, he realised he really needed some air. So he got up, wrapping a nightgown around himself and padding out into the hallway. He seen Winston and Egon passed out on the couches a little way down the hall and managed a faint smile, he was lucky to have friends like these guys. Once he 'came out' though, would that change?

He was just walking on when Winston made a muffled snoring sound, jolted awake and blurted:

"No officer, it was Peter's fault!"

"Hay!" Peter objected before he could stop himself and promptly face-palmed.

"Peter?" Winston got up with a groggy sigh "what're you doing up?"

"I, uh.." Peter turned his face away so Winston wouldn't see how flushed he was "I needed to pee."

"There's a toilet in your room." Winston smelled a rat, Peter was hiding something.

"Then I needed a drink." Venkman kept his back to him still.

"Theres a jug-"

" _Winston_!" Peter hissed, whipping round to face him and seen Winston looked smug.

"Gotcha." he said, making Peter fume. He was all set to push his co-worker away, refusing the support he offered, then unexpectedly all the rage left him and he just went blank, shoulders slumping and vision blurring. A ragged sound escaped his throat and Winston was shocked to hear Peter breakdown, the normally stoic ghostbuster had reached the end of his rope it seemed.

"This, it's all my fault. Ray got hurt trying to save my sorry ass!" Peter blurted, his voice hoarse as the words spilled out of him.

"Peter? Shall I call a nurse-?" Winston began.

"No!" Peter shook his head frantically, hands raised in a pleading gesture.

Through all this, Egon slept on, too deeply asleep to be stirred.

"OK, I'm not gonna." Winston assured the high-strung Venkman. Peter uttered a sigh of relief, staring at the floor awhile until a muffled snore from Egon caught his attention.

"Hehe, he sleeps like a stick insect, doesn't he?" Peter whispered, motioning to Egon and Winston chuckled, nodding silently.

"I thought I'd prop him up in the bathroom, it'd bring a whole new meaning to "scared shitless"." Winston joked, seeing this made Peter laugh a little. Good, he needed to make him feel a little better if he was going to get any sense out of him.

He steered Peter away down the hall so they could stand in an alcove and talk privately.

"Ok Pete, what's wrong? I've never seen you this beat down. I know that guy put you through a lot, the police said you'd clearly been restrained for a while."

"It's not that, Winston-!" Peter shook his head, guilt blooming again "it's about Ray."

"He's fine Peter, just a little shocked. That creep assumed he was involved with you and took a grudge against him."

Peter couldn't take it any longer and blurted out "because it's true, Winston!"

"Ah, right- wait, say what?" Winston did a double-take.

Peter slid down the wall until he was sat in a heap at its base. Winston sat next to him, running the words round his head. Peter WAS involved with Ray, then?

"That guy, the kidnapper. He's a guy I went with for awhile, named Landon something or another. Either way, he was way too controlling, so I called it quits and forgot all about him. Suddenly, he's kidnapping me and threatening to hurt Ray…."

"I never thought you might be gay, Peter, why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I'm NOT. I'm bisexual."

"Ohh, got it. Hay, I can get behind that-oh dear sanity that sounded so wrong." Winston face-palmed and Peter managed a short laugh. But it was a pale imitation of Peter's usually vibrant humour and he soon dropped his gaze again, expression twisting in pain.

"I think it's best I leave-, not the hospital, but Ghostbusters.." Peter said choppily "I don't want to make you guys uncomfortable. I still got my degrees after all-"

"Shut up, Peter." Winston said forcefully, stopping him cold with the change in his tone. Peter blinked at him as Winston raised a finger;

"One: have you been flirting with both genders as long as we've all been working together?"

"Duh Winston, of course!" Peter stared at him like he'd lost his marbles "I thought you were the sensible one, what's with the nonsense questions?"

"Two:" Winston asked, raising a second finger and ignoring Peter "Do you think Ray would mind if we knew?"

"No," Peter shook his head, running a hand through his hair, tired red eyes staring at the floor "We kinda argued a bit about it. He was insistent you guys wouldn't freak, but- I didn't think you'd take me seriously. Lets face it, next to nobody does..."

"Well you do ACT a bit flighty," Winston argued, making Peter scowl at him "I said 'ACT', Peter. Let me finish: BUT, you do stand up for what you believe and you've always had our backs Peter, we're not gonna ditch you just because you're a hopeless flirt. We're used to that. Now we just got double the reasons to tease you." He grinned evilly and Peter flipped him the bird.

"Seriously though Pete, we're not gonna treat you any different, it's cool."

"Really..?" Peter whispered, looking painfully close to collapsing again. As if the hope was too much of a weight "But, I thought..."

"I know it's not easy being open about it, but seriously?" Winston shook his head "I say it's better to be spreading love than hate, right? If you care about Ray that much, I'm all for it. Just don't rub it our faces, please."

"Damn, I'll cancel the order for the banner saying "I got a date!" then," Peter chuckled.

"Probably for the best." a third voice joined in and the two looked up as Egon slithered in beside Winston "why are we convening here?"

"Sorry Egon, did we wake you….somehow...from all the way down here?" Peter winced, abruptly nervous again. Egon shook his head.

"No, I rolled off the couch and woke up face down on the floor." he admitted, causing the other two to snicker loudly.

Egon glowered sleepily at them, but soon turned his attention to Peter, who winced and withdrew into himself again, staring fixedly at a scuff mark by his slipper.

"How much did you hear?" he asked.

"Enough to join Winston in assuring you that my opinion of you has not changed. If anything, I'm glad to know and thus to offer my support, should you want it. There is no logical reason to belittle you over this, you're still our friend and you're still a Ghostbuster. What direction your hapless flirting is aimed in bears no difference to the kind of person you are."

"Like I said, you're still trouble." Winston joked, earning a double bird-flip from Peter. But he looked much more hopeful then he had at the start of the talk, much to Winston's relief.

Peter closed his eyes, he hadn't dared hope it could be this simple. But when he opened his eyes, he seen Winston and Egon watching him, their expressions kind and open. Spengler flashed a rarely-seen smile, and Peter knew both him and Winston well enough to recognise their honesty.

"Hey, you mind if I ask how long..?" Winston trailed off, looking at Peter.

"You mean about Ray and I?" Venkman guessed.

"Mm-hmm."

Peter sighed, tilting his head back against the wall "since the trip to Morrisville. I'll let Ray tell that story, he had a run in with his old rival and things got kinda hairy. But, somewhere in there it just...happened."

"Hm, makes sense." Egon suddenly remarked.

"What does?" Peter looked back down at him now, confused.

"When we were tracking where Ray had run off to, Winston mentioned that you and Ray had been spending a lot of time together as of late, assuming you were working on a hobby together."

"And?" Peter felt himself flush slightly.

"And Janine said 'They're sharing _something_ alright.'. I now suspect SHE may have spotted something."

Peter let his head flop onto his knees, uttering a low groan. His face was turning red, he knew it.

"So much for being subtle." he whispered.

"To be fair, you kept it secret from us, we never suspected anything!" Winston said brightly, patting Peter's arm and earning another groan.

"Janine is perceptive, it doesn't surprise me she spotted the more subtle details. She's good at that."

"Yeah, she figured out the way to lure you out of your lab was with scientific magazines!" Peter grinned at Egon, who flushed slightly.

"Man, everybody's shacking up around here!" Winston joked, throwing his arms in the air in mock despair.

"What? I-I'm not...I mean-!" Egon looked oddly flustered and actually lost for words, which was rare and so Peter grinned at him.

"Hey, just ask her out already, Egon old buddy." Peter shrugged "it cant be more awkward then- well, this situation." he gestured to himself.

"Hey, it's all cool Pete." Winston said seriously "nothing's gonna change, except you two don't have to sneak around in secret anymore. Like I said, just don't be too TOO smug about it."

"Agreed." Peter chuckled, feeling like a massive weight was off his shoulders "Ray'll be pleased, if he doesn't hate me for getting him into this, along with not saying something earlier."

"You were in shock Peter, it couldn't be expected that your mind should function properly at that time." Egon said patiently.

"Yeah, we've gotten used to it never functioning the rest of the time." Winston put in, making Peter blow a raspberry, but then he ruined the illusion when he cracked up laughing.

Laughing so hard in fact, that it brought tears to his eyes. The other two were chuckling as well, the mood between them now much lighter. Peter sighed heavily at last, wiping at his eyes.

"Heh, thanks." he said "seriously."

"It's what we do, bud." Winston smiled "have you been thinking about this all day?"

"Yeah. I seen how miserable Ray was, I cant stand seeing him like that!" Peter said, a flush of colour returning to his face "I kept thinking back to when he brought up the whole telling-you-guys thing. I owed him that much, after today."

"I can't believe that guy went after you like that, what a nut." Winston shook his head.

"He's in Police custody, they will want to do follow-up reports with yourself and Ray. At the moment it's looking like charges of kidnapping, assault and vehicular manslaughter. Also, illegal possession of smoke grenades." Egon finished.

"Good." Peter spat out "he deserves it, the creep. I thought I was shot of him, I barely even remembered him. I certainly didn't think it'd put Ray in danger!"

He felt guilt resurge all over again. "But he was watching the firehouse, observing me and he must have seen an intimate moment between Ray and I. That was the last straw, I think and he kidnapped me just a short while later."

"Hopefully he'll get the proper treatment." Egon said "it is abundantly clear that he has had some kind of psychotic break, although we can only guess as to why it triggered now?"

Peter nodded, then shivered as the cold floor finally soaked through to his skin. His friends guided him back to his room, saying they'd be right outside if he needed them. Peter nodded, but was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Outside in the hall, Winston and Egon settled down for another couch-nap.

"That was an enlightening talk." Egon said softly "I'm relieved we got to the bottom of the matter. After today's events, I was concerned for both of them."

"Me too, Egon, me too. Whew." Winston sighed.

"It's good they're not going to need to hide from us after this." Egon said simply.

"Yeah, I'm happy for 'em. Ray's got a big heart and Peters got a wounded one, from what little we've learned about his past. I think they're good for each other. A cynic and a guy with the biggest heart in New York."

"They deserve to be content." Egon said firmly.

"That they do, buddy." Winston yawned, eyes drifting closed "wonder how long Janine knew?"

"Hmmh?" Egon said dozily, "I'll ask her..." then he was out like a light, with Winston not far behind.

Ray woke to someone holding his hand. His eyes flew all the way open and he glanced at the bedside. Peter was sat there, smiling softly.

"Peter?" Ray asked, sitting up in bed "are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Ray." Peter assured him, but Ray noticed he looked more than a little down.

"What's wrong? Don't you feel well?" Ray asked, but Peter shook his head slowly.

"It's- I'm sorry Ray, this was all my fault!" he blurted at last.

"What?" Ray looked even more puzzled now "how is what happened your fault?"

"No, I mean this; you feeling miserable, feeling like I didn't care enough to say anything. I'm sorry Ray, I was too distrustful of our friends to realise they never would've treated us like that. Heck, Janine knows! They talked to me last night, you see, Winston and Egon.."

Ray had a feeling he knew where this was going and blushed pre-emptively.

Peter took a deep breath "I told them, Ray. I told them I care about you, have done ever since Morrisville. We're clear Ray, we don't have to sneak around any more."

Ray looked a mix of nervous and relieved and squeezed Peter's hand gently as he processed this.

"W-what did they say?" he squeaked, making Peter smile.

"They said they're cool with it. Egon said there's no reason for anything to change."

Ray took this in, looking about to cry from relief. Peter brushed them away before they could fall and kissed Ray lightly.

"It's alright.." he said "I'm sorry Ray, I never meant to put all the pressure on you. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course." Ray whispered, pressing his forehead into Peter's shoulder "it's been hard for you too. I know you tend to keep the world at arms length, it's understandable this would be a bit of a shock."

Peter sighed softly, stroking Rays hair "I maintain I don't know WHAT I did right to deserve a heart like yours, Raymond."

"Easy;" Ray said, sitting up and leaning close to Peter "you saved me, both from Favish and from my own self-doubt." he flushed, recalling that first night. Peter smiled back, kissing his forehead gently and whispering a thank you that made Ray blush.

"Knock knock?" A voicer asked from the doorway and Peter yelped, overbalancing and falling backwards off his stool as the door opened fully. Ray put a hand to his mouth but failed to stifle his giggles.

"Whoops." Winston said airily, on spotting Peter glowering at him from the floor.

"How are you feeling, Ray?" Egon asked as he strode in, setting a box of candy on the bed "I figured you would be missing your daily sugar intake by now."

"Wahoo!" Ray cheered and clapped his hands "Thanks Egon, you're the best!"

He happily tucked in as everyone sat themselves around his bed, with Peter perching by the head of the bed. They all partook in some of the candy when Ray offered it, even the normally sugar-avoiding Egon.

"You feelin' alright?" Winston spoke first, Ray smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," he felt the warmth of Peter's presence by his side and smiled softly "much better."

"That's good," Egon said "I was concerned by how shaken you were after the car chase. You were barely able to respond when I located you."

Ray shuddered "it was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from, but I'm alright now, really. Just needed a good sleep."

Peter thought about his own restless night and the conversation he'd had. His glance moved from Ray up to the other two Ghostbusters sitting by the bed.

"Can I get out of here now?" Ray was asking, oblivious to this "I'm really bored."

"I'll ask the doctor momentarily." Egon promised "We just wanted to talk about a conversation we had last night first, concerning-"

Realising this was THE talk, Ray's confidence fled him, he went beet red and squeaked, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face in them in a sudden fit of shyness.

"Squeak?" Winston asked.

"He does that from time to time." Peter chuckled, rubbing Rays back.

"Please relax Ray, we already informed Peter of our acceptance of the situation. As I stated last night to Peter, it makes no difference to us, you're still you. There is no logical reason for any form of mockery, so you can relax."

"Exactly, like Egon said, it's cool." Winston promised. Ray was still hiding his face in his knees, what could be seen of his face so red that Peter was afraid he'd collapse. An idea struck him and he grinned evilly, winking conspiratorially to the other two. Like he'd done that first night in Morrisville, he ran his fingers across the back of Ray's neck, the featherlight touch sending shivers up the red-head's back and making him uncoil instinctively.

"Eeeh- Peter!" Ray squawked indignantly "quit it!"

"Quit what-whoa!"

Peter realised a little late that he had leaned too far aside to avoid Ray's flailing arms and now toppled off the bed with a thud.

"OK, I deserved that." he groaned, as Ray peered worriedly down at him. Winston snickered and Egon just shrugged. Ray glanced at the doctor and was relieved to receive one of Egon's rarely-seen smiles. He felt much better, if a little embarrassed. He hadn't expected they'd find out this way, but he was glad that they had. He just had to get over his own awkwardness now…

* * *

The doctor released him that afternoon at Egon's request and the four of them headed home.

Janine was there to meet them at the firehouse, hugging each of them in turn. When she last but not least hugged Egon, he surprised her by returning it. Normally he just kind of stood there, he wasn't the most responsive man in the world. She felt herself flush in surprise, which was added to when Egon actually smiled down at her.

Turning from the hug, the two seen the others were all staring up at the sky.

"Any sign of it?" Ray asked.

"Nope." Winston.

"I got nothin'!" Peter quipped.

"What are you three doing?!" Janine demanded.

"Looking for flying pigs." Peter said, jabbing a finger at the sky "See, we always figured the day Egon finally lightens up is the day pigs will fly...sooo..."

"Well, I can throw you off the roof with a parachute, will that do?" Janine snarked to Peter, who stuck his tongue out at her.

Egon muffled a snort with his hand, while Janine just shook her head, linked her arm through his and said "let's get inside already."

Ray went to go change his clothes with Peter trailing alongside and Winston left to go pick up some dinner.

* * *

Needing to think, Egon set about cleaning the pile of dishes that'd been forgotten about since the day before.

He was pleasantly surprised when Janine came in and wordlessly picked up a dishtowel to dry.

"So, how did it go?" she asked Egon, as they stood comfortably together.

"Better than I expected," Egon mused, staring into the distance as he reflected on the memory "I had expected Peter to be angry and defensive of the fact that this vulnerability as he sees it was exposed. But, he told US in fact. Well, he told Winston after he accidentally woke him up and I came across them not long after."

"Really? Wow, talk about unexpected." Janine mused.

"Exactly," Egon nodded, looking at her "I think it's a sign Peter's trusting the world at large just a little more, or trusting us at least."

"What about Ray? How'd he take it?" Janine smiled.

"He was understandably flustered and made a concerted attempt to spontaneously combust going by the colour of his face. But by the time we left, he seemed much happier." Egon confirmed.

"That's good to hear. As much as Peter does my head in, I think Ray's a good match for him." Janine mused as Egon passed her the last dish and she put it away after drying it "Ray's a sweet guy, pretty innocent in a way."

Egon nodded and felt a smile creep onto his lips as Janine stood on her tiptoes to lightly kiss his cheek before strolling away. Egon felt himself flush; she was a lovely woman, Janine.

* * *

He joined the rest in front of the TV once the food and Winston arrived back, sitting on the arm of the couch beside Janine and steadfastly ignoring Peter's smirk. Janine seen it however, poking her tongue out at hi when Egon wasn't looking.

Ray was sat beside Peter, of course, but the way he was sitting was adorably tense. It was as if he didn't know how to relax, now that the secret was out!

After a few minutes of this, Peter rolled his eyes and slung an arm around Ray's shoulders, pulling him close and sighing.

"C'mere you. Stop being so tense, you'll sprain something if you keep THAT up." he chuckled. Ray flushed subtly, but did flash Peter a cute little smile when nobody else was looking. Peter squeezed his side gently and Ray finally relaxed, half paying attention to the TV, half revelling in being able to snuggle up to Venkman without worrying about his friends.

In the brief seconds that Ray closed his eyes to yawn, Winston flashed a swift thumbs up to Peter, who returned it then struggled not to blush when Ray shuffled how he was sitting so he could rest his head on Peter's shoulder.

-So. Damn. Adorkable.- Peter thought with a grin to himself –and he's all mine!-

* * *

 **Welcome back to the PeterRay series! I'll be posting the collected chapters I wrote prior to Christmas over the next day or two, including a slightly late holiday themed story! To everyone who's been reading; thank you!**


	2. Birds of a Feather

The next stop in the couple's journey came a month later, after a particularly difficult bust and Peter's protective guilt came together with cataclysmic results.

* * *

It all began with a pair of demons and an untested audible weapon.

Ray and Peter had unintentionally ended up partnering together during the bust and now they'd gotten separated in the chase by one of the two spirits they'd come to bust. The screeching thing had herded them away from Egon and Winston, but they could dimly hear their voices echoing around the abandoned factory.

"Look!" Peter clutched Ray's wrist and pointed at an exit door, "If we can reach that, we can get that new prototype of Egon's from the car!"

"T-The audio wave gun? But it's not been tested-! " Ray wheezed. Egon had developed it to disrupt the wavelength the ghosts operated on, it was like playing music so loudly a human would get a headache.

"Yup! It's our only shot, I'm afraid. It's this or bird food-" Peter gritted his teeth as he spoke, running as fast as he could. His chest burned from the running and the chemicals lacing the air inside the plant, memories of production lines long gone. Ray's hand was hot in his, his grip tight as could be as they hit the door, barrelling out into the sunlight. Squinting in the sudden brightness, they threw themselves towards Ecto-1 in a tangle of bodies and Ray wrestled the door open, multiple blasts of proton energy heating the air behind him as Peter opened fire. His heart was clawing at his chest as he pulled the gun free and turned round-

Peter stood in front of him, staring in numb shock as the giant birdlike demon swooped towards them, one claw extended to grab either Peter's throat or the gun. The blasts he'd fired hadn't had any effect, it was still coming in for the kill-!

Ray acted fast as he could, grabbing Peter's shoulder, spinning him round and shoving the gun into his hands. The force of the shove plus Peter being caught off guard meant that he was sent flying and slamming to the floor on his back, just in time for the bird to swoop past where he'd been.

Ray instinctively backed up against Ecto-1's door, hearing it click shut, the metal door-handle jabbing into his back. He tried to dart away but the demonic bird, already angry at its first prey getting away from it, threw itself at Ray instead, cutting his escape off. It's claws slammed into his shoulder on one side, carving deep scratches in the Ectomobile's paint job on the other.

Peter heard a frantic scream of pain amidst the beating of wings as he recovered himself, blinking dust out of his eyes. His heart sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench as he seen the things claws had raked open Ray's left shoulder, gouging a trio of deep cuts. It was tugging at the Ghostbuster now, trying to free its claws and causing more crimson to flow as Ray panicked and tried to get free. Blood splattered the once pristine white car as he finally tore his uniform from its claws by sheer desperate force, crumpling to the dirt with a sob while the bird flapped back, beige fabric hanging from red talons. It was soon wheeling around for another dive.

"The hell you are, feather brain!" Peter screamed, taking aim and giving it the full ion blast. The bird shrieked, it's body arching and writhing in the invisible sound beams grip. Then a proton beam lashed out to join it, hitting the thing and knocking it out of the sky. Peter stared at Ray, who was on his feet somehow, expression stony as he blasted the bird with everything he had.

Shaking himself free of the shock, Peter pulled the trap free from his belt and sealed the thing away with a triumphant yell.

"We...we did it..." Ray whispered. Peter let the trap lie where it was and raced over to him, letting the gun clatter to the floor in favour of saving Ray as he collapsed. He was covered in blood and barely breathing. His vision was unfocused, eyes drifting blankly over Peter's face as Venkman pressed a shaking hand to his cheek.

"RAY!" Peter cried, "c'mon buddy, stay with me!" But Ray didn't answer, lapsing into an unconscious state with a soft sigh.

Peter scooped him up, heading immediately for Ecto-1 and somehow wrestling the door open as the smell of blood burnt itself into his memory in searing crimson. He put Ray down and rummaged under the seats, pulling out a spare shirt he kept there in case of Slimer. He balled it up now, pressing it firmly to the wound and using duct tape to secure it in place, starting to shake as it was soon soaked through.

"Hang in there, Ray." he pleaded as he wriggled over the rear seats to start the car. As much as it pained him, he couldn't afford to look for the others and he hoped they'd understand as he gunned the engine.

* * *

Egon and Winston had caught their half of the troublesome demon duo and had just stepped outside to start looking for Peter and Ray when they heard the screech of tyres and witnessed Ecto-1 tearing out of the entrance of the Industrial park ahead of them.

"What the-?!" Winston sputtered, while Egon blinked in quiet shock. As Winston swore darkly, Spengler looked at the tyre tracks left in the dirt and seen them lead back around the corner…

Winston followed Egon as he trailed after the line of treads left by the speeding Ectomobile. They came to a halt when they seen the point where they'd parked the car back at the start of all this. There was blood splashed on the ground and the prototype gun lay abandoned in the dirt.

"What went on here?" Winston said shakily as he stared at the dark red fluid daubed here and there on the dirt. Egon shook his head, he didn't know and couldn't begin to guess at first. Taking a deep breath, he told himself to think logically and felt his heart slow a bit. His brain whirred into action, joining the scarce dots and presenting a muddied but useable conclusion.

"For either Ray or Peter to take off like that and leave us, the other must have been critically hurt. We should head to the hospital, right away!"

"Uh, HOW? They took the car, Egon..."

* * *

They got a bus and then a cab, but finally made it to the hospital.

"Hello, can I help-?"

"Peter Venkman or Ray Stantz, have either of them been admitted here?!" Egon blurted, barely giving her time to speak.

She took in the anxious duo and pulled up the hospital records.

Winston's hand squeezed Egon's shoulder as they waited, nails digging into him as he stared at the worn wood of the desk.

"Here we are- I have a Raymond Stantz on record, he was brought in with severe bleeding and wounds to his shoulder. He's in surgery at the moment-"

Both Egon and Winston looked about to collapse, this was bad. Would Ray be alright?

"I know you boys aren't family, but you can go on through." the receptionist offered kindly, seeing how worried they were.

Egon managed to stammer out a thank you as he and Winston took off in the direction she'd pointed.

* * *

As they charged frantically down the halls, they finally seen a bloodied Venkman sat on a chair in the hallway of intensive care. Two police officers were just thanking him and leaving to file their report.

"Peter!" Egon cried and Venkman looked up at them, looking utterly wrung out. He didn't say a word as they ran over, just stood uneasily on his feet. Evidence suggested he'd been crying, he was flushed and his eyes were red raw.

"What happened?" Winston asked him gently, Egon nodding encouragingly.

"R-Ray..." Peter ran a hand through his hair, sighing shakily "That goddamn bird clawed him- it was bleeding. The doc said its claws had an anti-cog, coact-"

"Anti-coagulant." Egon put in and Peter nodded.

"What's that mean?" Winston asked impatiently, rounding on Egon, who winced slightly.

"It means, Winston, that the bloods natural clotting didn't set in, the wound would've kept bleeding."

Winston used a word then that made Egon wince a second time. He thought about poor Ray, always doing his best to make everyone else happy and his heart tensed in worry.

While Winston paced, Egon edged away, knowing he wasn't in any condition to sound tactful right now. All his mind could conjure up was statistics in blood loss and coagulation.

"He's got to be alright." he whispered to himself, wrapping his arms around his midsection.

Peter just stared into space, feeling about to be sick, again.

"Mr Venkman?" The doors to the theatre opened and Peter was over there in a shot, gripping the doctors arm tightly. The doctor blinked as he seen the exhausted panic in the man's eyes, this same fellow had followed the gurney until he was forced to stop and made to stay on the other side of the operating room doors. Peter's jumpsuit was stained with a large amount of blood, but he'd already assured the staff that he wasn't hurt.

"Y-your friend," the doctor cleared his throat, "he's suffered heavy blood loss but he'll be alright. Right now he's stable, but he'll need transfusions to replace the blood he's lost."

Peter stepped back, hands falling to his sides and his body shaking in relief. Winston came over, with Egon hovering behind them. They stood close to him, probably the only reason he didn't collapse to the floor. Keeping a hand on Venkman's elbow, Egon felt dizzy with relief, although his expression retained its serious front.

"Can we see him?" Peter asked, voice cracked and strained.

The doctor nodded, saying Ray was under a lot of medication for the pain and likely wouldn't wake up for quite awhile. He gestured them all to follow him to intensive care, down the hall to the room marked "Stantz, R".

* * *

Ray was cocooned in numerous blankets up to his chest. His shirt had been cut away along with his uniform and thick bandages were wrapped around his left shoulder. Drips for blood and other liquids hung from a metal stand. He looked pale as the blankets covering him, like he was made of fine china. The regular beep of a heart monitor filled the silence, along with the soft hiss of a respirator.

"Poor guy.." Winston said in a hushed voice.

Egon nodded, he had no comforting words to blunt the silent weight lying over the room. Beside him, Peter's ragged breathing hinted he was close to being sick from shock. At that moment however, Ray shifted and uttered a barely audible moan which snapped Peter out of it.

He stumbled over and sat by Ray's bedside, gazing in numb shock at the heavy bandages on his partner's shoulder. His trembling fingers entwined with Ray's and he squeezed his hand.

"I'm sorry..." he sighed shakily.

"This was not your fault, Peter. Ray knows what he's doing-" Egon tried to be diplomatic, there was no evidence of blame on Peter's part. But Peter was already on edge and released Ray's hand now, getting to his feet and stepping right up to Egon.

"Of course he does, thats what I don't understand! Why would he get himself sliced up because of ME?! And it IS my fault, that thing was heading for me, I should've fired faster-!"

"You cant keep going back over-" Egon tried again, but Peter's hands were clenching tighter and tighter until the cut into the skin of his palms.

"Egon." Winston cut him off diplomatically, seeing Peter was close to losing it.

Again Egon sighed and shut any emotion he had, off. He wasn't any good with high stress situations, he'd have to find his own way of helping. He left silently, leaving Peter and Winston to talk by Ray's bed. He filled out the forms for the paperwork to pass some time before returning toward intensive care.

* * *

As he drifted through reception, a reporter, there to cover a famous celebrity that'd been brought in drunk as hell, spotted the iconic uniform now and raced over, standing between Egon and the door. The physicist tensed up, staring coldly at him.

"You're one of the Ghostbusters, aren't you? Why are YOU here-?" he cut off as Egon set a hand on his shoulder and steered him aside. His grip was like iron, the reporter noted, wincing as Egon glared daggers at him.

"I am here because my friend's life hangs in the balance and I don't want some jumped-up know-it-all sticking their nose into it. We have an old friend who's a lawyer, so if I see or hear anything further-"

"Ok, ok...I get it, not a good time!" the reporter squeaked. He got the feeling proceeding with this story would only earn the ire of the Ghostbusters and he did respect what they did. They'd cleared his friends house out just last month! So he nodded, letting an exhausted Egon stride away, the tension in his body visible now that he looked at him.

* * *

Peter and Winston were sat back outside in the hall when Egon found them again, outside what was now Ray's room.

"I did the paperwork for the insurance-" Egon began, stopping with a wince as Peter gave him a look "I-is Ray alright?"

"Nice of you to care," Peter drawled and Winston seen Egon flinch just perceptibly. Spengler stepped back an inch, suddenly floundering for anything to say...

"I-I need to get something from Ecto-1, pardon me." he blurted abruptly, turning and walking away down the hall before anyone could stop him. By the time Winston stood, Spengler was long gone.

"Peter!" Winston turned and frowned at the brunette. "that was a little harsh, don't you think?"

Still tense from worry Peter said nothing for a few seconds, just stared stonily at the floor. Finally he heaved a sigh.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to- I just..." he gestured vaguely, feeling close to tears again.

"Ray's gonna be asleep for while." Winston said gently, setting a hand on Peter's shoulder "go talk to Egon, I'm sure he's just as worried. You know how he is, he doesn't overload like the rest of us do, he just gets steadily more withdrawn."

Peter nodded and went off in search of his friend. He found his way down to the parking lot, drifting towards the signature design of Ecto-1.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the rear door, hoping Spengler wasn't angry. He hadn't meant to bite the introverted doctors head off, he was just so worried for Ray...

* * *

Egon had just managed to lose himself in re-reading the legalese on the insurance forms when a sudden knock at the door made him jump. He stared, wide-eyed, as Peter opened the door and stuck his upper body in.

"Egon, hey. Found you." Peter said lamely, like this was a game of hide-and-seek instead of a much needed apology.

Egon tried to think of something to say, but for once found himself unable to counter Peter with his usual intelligence.

"I'm sorry, bud." Peter plopped himself on the floor of the car beside Egon's seat "it's not your fault, I just can't stand to think of losing Ray."

"I know." Egon said softly "I feel sick whenever I think about losing any of you."

The tremor in his voice was clear and Peter looked up at him, seeing how tense Egon was, the way he seemed to look right through the papers clenched so tightly in his hands. He tugged the paperwork free and set it aside, nudging his friend's elbow.

"C'mon, come back inside. We'll all be right there when Ray wakes up, I'm sorry I lost it at you back there."

Egon remained silent a minute more, then finally uttered a small sigh.

"Alright," Egon said at last, "apology accepted, I know your hearts in the right place."

"Thanks, pal." Peter smiled for the first time all day since the bust and the two of them left and locked Ecto-1, returning to where Winston sat.

* * *

All three perched on the uncomfortable padded seats, waiting for Ray to stir...

"He'll be alright," Egon said after they sat in silence for awhile "I'm sure of it. Ray's never given up."

"Yeah, he'll be back to snuggling you on the sofa in no time!" Winston said with a wink, elbowing Peter, who chuckled dryly and managed a smile.

"I'd better make sure he has lots of presents waiting when he wakes up, then. I'll bring one of his plushies next time I go back to the HQ."

* * *

But Peter's guilt continued to grow and he forced himself to smile and act normal so as not to raise any alarm. But night after night, when he wasn't at the hospital, he was lying awake staring at the ceiling. Acids roiled in his stomach and he eventually had to stuff more pillows behind him to fall asleep at all.

-Why didn't I act faster?- was his main thought, followed by –Why did Ray throw himself in the way for ME? He's worth too much to deserve that.-

The other two seen that Peter was acting withdrawn at work, but knew not to push him. He was dealing with the stress at twice the weight, since Ray wasn't just his friend, but his lover too.

The only thing of any comfort to the worried Ghostbusters and company was the news from the hospital. Ray was growing stronger and stronger as each day passed and his body was able to replenish its supply of blood.

* * *

When he woke up properly, free of the heavy sedatives, it was to the sight of ALL his friends gathered at his bedside. Peter was holding his hand and looking on the verge of tears as he met Ray's eyes.

"Hey you." Peter smiled, a familiar greeting he'd give Ray whenever they woke up in bed after a nights passion.

"Hey..." Ray said weakly, squeezing his hand with all the strength he could muster. "Did we get the ghost?"

"Yup, all thanks to you." Peter said gently, but he felt a surge of guilt, reflux making his stomach churn and he struggled not to let it show "look, Ray!"

He pulled a familiar plush from the bag at his feet, grinning widely.

"Dopey!" Ray cried, hugging the plushie in his one good arm.

"Hay! That's not a nice thing to call Egon!" Winston cracked, making the physicist scowl. But Ray began to laugh, so Egon chanced flipping Winston off and making Ray laugh even more. Winston snickered and winked cheerily at Ray, who grinned back.

"Honestly." Peter rolled his eyes, but squeezed Ray's hand and offered a loving smile to the red-head.

"I'm glad you're OK Peter, that thing was really gunning for you!" Ray said softly. "I-"

"Ah, I'm tough, I'd have been fine." Peter said glibly, cutting him off swiftly as he forced himself to smile. Ray looked about to protest, but then he sneezed.

"Bless you." Peter poked his cheek, making Ray flush. This was the benefit of a private room, Peter thought absently, he could shower Ray with affection as long as he shut the door.

"We'll leave you two alone," Winston said, grabbing Egon's arm and towing him towards the door "don't wear him out now, Peter."

"Doing what exactly?" Egon asked, innocent as could be. Winston face-palmed, shaking his head as the door shut behind them

"You see Egon, when-"

"Oops." Peter snickered, "RIP Egon's poor mind."

Ray chuckled softly, happy to see that his friends were all doing OK. Yet he couldn't help but think that Peter seemed a little distant despite his smiles and enthusiastic chatter. But anytime he tried to bring it up, Peter would subtly change tack, telling some funny story or joke, or he'd sit himself on the bed and kiss Ray. They got away with several kisses before it was time to go when visiting hours ended.

* * *

The nurse smiled at Venkman as he left, then walked over to Ray's bedside.

"Handsome fella, your friend." she smiled "don't suppose he's available?"

"I'm afraid not," Ray said "He already has someone."

"Aww, boo." she winked "ah well, I can dream."

Ray chuckled, falling quickly asleep as she changed the drips. He'd be on blood transfusions for a little while longer, to make up for what he'd lost.

* * *

He was kept in hospital until the wounds were mostly healed, this was due to their placement on his shoulder, the doctors wanted him staying put until there was little danger of them re-opening. He could move a little easier now, but his left shoulder was still rather stiff.

When Peter came by that afternoon after Ray's check-up, Ray excitedly told him he'd be getting out of the hospital tomorrow! Peter looked relieved, but also exhausted, which worried Ray deeply.

"Peter, is something wrong?" he asked now, but Peter only shook his head. Ray could see the bags under his eyes though, so he wasn't fooled. No matter how much he tried however, Peter wouldn't give anything away, instead he fussed over Ray even more lovingly and did everything he knew to make him smile.

-Something's wrong..- Ray thought as Peter left, his lips still tingling from Venkman's farewell kiss. -Why won't you tell me, Peter?-

* * *

The matter was still plaguing him when Egon dropped by that evening, bringing Ray more boxes of candy.

"Slimer's missing you something chronic." he informed Ray, who smiled, happy in the knowledge that he'd be seeing them all soon.

"Egon..?" he began, then hesitated, unsure how to say what bothered him.

"What is it, Ray?" the doctor asked, tilting his head quizzically to one side.

"Is...is Peter OK?"

"I believe so, aside from worrying. Why do you ask?"

"It's.." Ray sighed, looking at his hands then back up at the taller man sat by his bedside "he seems like he's distant, like something is bothering him, but he wont tell me."

"Hmm, I see. I shall have a talk-"

"No!" Ray blurted hastily "I mean- I don't want to pressure him, I'm sure it'll be OK."

"Are you sure?" Egon asked hesitantly and Ray nodded quickly.

Egon was puzzled as he drove home that evening. Why was Peter acting strange to Ray? He hadn't been responsible, Ray had told him and Winston that the bird's claws would've gone through Peter's neck if he hadn't shoved him away.

"At least I recovered." Ray had said, pointing out the necessity for his heroics to Egon. Peter still didn't seem to believe it though…

* * *

Egon studied Peter that evening at HQ, seen clearly how, though he acted as flippant as usual on the surface while chasing slimer about, his heart just didn't seem to be in it.

"Me want Ray!" Slimer declared as their pursuit reached the upper floor, his words making Peter scowl.

"You think I DON'T?!" he fumed at the ghost, hands clenching at his sides. Slimer got ready to run again, but got a shock when all the fury seemed to leave Petey's body. His shoulders slumped and he simply turned and mooched into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with a half-hearted "ah, who cares..."

"Petey?" Slimer said quietly in the empty hall, but Petey didn't emerge from the bedroom. The green ghost drifted away, puzzled at Petey's unusually acidic anger.

He ended up in Egon's lab, where the doctor was fine-tuning the sonic weapon.

"Egon?" Slimer chanced asking. Egon set the welding tool down and lifted the mask from his face.

"What is it, Slimer?" he asked.

"Petey not acting like Petey." Slimer said dolefully as he looked up at the doctor. In a rare move, Egon patted the spook on the head, his expression tired but kind.

Egon pondered how to explain "Slimer, you know about Peter and Ray, right?"

Slimer nodded eagerly, making a heart shape with his pudgy hands. Egon nodded, smiling very faintly.

"Exactly. When someone we love gets hurt, we worry twice as hard. It is because of how much we care that we do that. Peter's just very worried right now, he'll be OK once Ray's back to full health. Got that?"

"Uh-huh." Slimer said. He missed Ray too, Ray was best friend to him.

He drifted away with that thought in his head and Egon hoped Peter WOULD be alright. He'd never seen Peter acting so...skittish. Something was brewing in his head, but what?

He had tried asking if Peter blamed himself, despite Ray's insistence he not, but after Venkman had threatened to flush Egon's spore samples down the toilet, he'd promptly stopped asking.

Ray was coming home tomorrow afternoon and they'd arranged a cab for him, since they couldn't be sure they wouldn't be called out, things had been pretty hectic lately.

The house felt pretty empty without Ray, his joyful spirit really did make the place feel more like home, Egon mused as he resumed his work.

* * *

Peter sidled up to him and Winston the next day as they were preparing to go on call, asking if he could stay back. Remembering that Ray was due home today, they exchanged looks. Egon winced, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We'd love to, Peter, but this is a big job and-"

"I'll go." They all turned as Janine spoke, getting up from her desk. She walked over to Peter, hands on her hips.

"I'll cover you this ONCE, but you'd better fuss over that boy when he gets here Venkman, understand?"

Peter nodded mutely, eyes wide at the intensity of her glare. She nodded, satisfied, took the proton pack from him and poked Egon on the nose. "C'mon, boys."

Watching her slide into the passenger seat, Egon felt a jab of affection, she was pretty fearless…

"Hey!" he snapped out of it as Winston motioned him to get a move on. Egon scrambled into the driver's seat, revving the engine and taking off as fast as he could.

* * *

Alone, Peter felt his stomach churn, felt the weeks guilt bubble up like acid. He eventually ran to the bathroom and threw up, his stress getting to him.

-Ray.- he thought sadly as he staggered downstairs, having cleaned himself up and practically chugged the whole bottle of mouthwash.

Just as his feet touched the bottom step in the entranceway, the door opened.

"Peter?" Ray stepped inside, neatly dressed in a suit Winston had brought him, his uniform had been incinerated due to the blood splashed all over it.

"Ray." Peter said, feeling a tremor of relief run through him. Ray set his bag down and ran over, hugging Peter tightly with one arm. But when he tried to hug him back, Peter found himself frozen by doubt...

"Peter?" Ray said, concerned when Peter didn't respond "is something wrong-?"

He trailed off as he seen the beginning of tears gathering in Peter's eyes. He touched his partner's cheek gently, making Peter look at him "what's wrong?"

"Ray, I'm sorry." Peter shook his head, looking at the sweet Ghostbuster standing before him "you deserve better. I put you I danger at that bust, I was reckless. I should've done more to help you, instead of thinking my proton pack alone would chase it away while you got the door open."

"P-peter?" Ray stammered "w-what are you saying?"

"You deserve better Ray, that's what I'm saying. My life is not worth you throwing yours away-"

SLAP.

He jolted as Ray actually slapped him, albeit not that hard. He stared in shock, Ray was close to tears but there was anger in there, too.

"Why do you do that?" Ray said, choking back a frustrated sob "why do you use your scars as a reason to hate yourself? To hide how amazing you really are? You bring them to the front to scare people away and make them think your trouble, when you're so much more than that. Do you think you're broken, unfixable? Well I don't believe that. I believe in the man who proved to me that I didn't need to doubt myself because of my weight."

"Maybe I AM trouble!" Peter blurted back "I nearly got you killed Ray. You don't deserve that burden-"

"You don't get to decide that!" Ray shook his head "You can push me all you like, but I'm not going to stop caring about you, even if you are a selfish ASS Peter Venkman! Come find me when you stop blaming yourself!"

With that said, Ray stormed off, retreating downstairs to where the containment unit lurked.

* * *

Alone YET again, Peter felt his shoulders slump. He hadn't meant to hurt Ray, he just didn't think his sorry ass was worth such a gentle loveable guy being almost wiped off the earth. Seeing so much blood and feeling it sticking to his hands, it'd brought home the terrifying idea of losing his first real love.

Slimer had seen this whole fight from behind Janine's desk and floated out now, hands on his (non-existent) hips.

"Petey!" he declared.

"Not now, Slimer." Peter choked, feeling tears well up and yet helpless to stop them. He hated himself for making Ray upset, but he had to protect him. He walked away from the green spook, hands clenched at his sides.

"Petey." Slimer flew in front of him, glaring at him as Peter blinked in incredulous surprise.

"What do you want, Slimer?" he said bitterly. Slimer grabbed his collar so they were eye-to-eye now.

"Petey loves Ray." he said firmly and Peter blushed then swiftly grew angry again. His vision blurred and he tried to shove the ghost away from him.

"What do YOU care?!" he snapped.

"Petey. Love. RAY." Slimer repeated stubbornly, eyes narrowed.

It was only three words, but the truth was many pages long. Peter was in love with Ray, his smile, his kindness, the way he felt when they were next to one another-

He looked at the almost cross-eyed ghost now.

"You're right, I DO love him, Slimer. But it's my fault he nearly got killed and I can't forgive myself, so why should he?"

"Because Ray believe in Petey. Ray know Petey good friend. Say to Ray, go say." Slimer began towing Peter by the collar to the stairs. He let him go and pointed sternly at the steps.

"Petey go to Ray. Kissy make-up." he said. Peter gave Slimer a LOOK that would've set the ghost on fire if it could, but then he looked at the steps, his heart in his mouth. Eventually, he began walking down, step by step…

* * *

Ray was sat on the gantry that ran along the side of the containment unit, off to the right of the massive storage device. His knees were drawn up to his chest, face buried in his arms. Peter walked stealthily over, sitting down on the opposite side of the rounded front panel. Ray didn't look up, however, didn't even respond.

"Ray?" Peter asked at last. There was no answer.

"Ray, I'm sorry-"

"Oh really?!" Ray burst out, lifting his head to glare at Peter "is that why you just tried to ditch me? Because you don't think you're worth saving? Don't you trust me, Peter?"

"Of course I do-"

"Then kindly shut UP and listen for once." Ray said, wiping angry tears away with his sleeve.

Peter did, rather startled by this rare display of dominance.

"You know what made me fall for you, Peter?" Ray said softly "it was the way you made me see what I was truly worth, that you made me feel happy. You seen right through every front I put up, made me feel good about myself in a way I didn't imagine I could. That's why."

Peter shut his eyes at these words, guilt kicking him in the gut.

"Why do you get to save ME from my misery, only to condemn yourself?" Ray said firmly. He silently shifted his weight so he could scuttle across the catwalk towards Peter as he spoke.

"I don't know what happened to make you think that way, Peter Venkman, but I am NOT letting it continue. Do you hear me?"

He crouched before Peter, lightly tracing his cheek with his fingertips. That handsome profile that he'd seen lit by the bedside lamp in a hotel here or a desk light there...

Peter opened his eyes at the contact, feeling his heart stutter and pick up speed. Even just the simplest touch made his skin feel like every nerve was on fire. Ray was in front of him now, leaning forward on his hands and knees so they were face-to-face.

"Ray?" he asked, how could the man stand to look at him so lovingly?

"I'm serious, why?" Ray demanded and Peter looked away, then back at Ray, uttering a heavy sigh.

"Because, after mom disappeared, I pretty much fell into trouble. People didn't want to associate with a kid who'd been to juvie, so I spent a lot of time alone until college, until I met you and Egon. Even then, I tried not to let any of you find out too much about me, I created the me that the world sees, mr bottomless-confidence-the-flirt!"

Ray watched Peter's face, seen the truth in his eyes and the years of guilt. He stroked Peter's hair, his eyes never leaving his partners. Peter gathered up all the guilt and courage together and blurted;

"I'm afraid of hurting you, Ray. That's the honest truth. I'm scared I'll ruin something so beautiful and I could never forgive myself if I did."

"Well it's time to forget all that." Ray said sternly "I did what I did at the bust because if I hadn't, that thing could've cut your throat. You would've died right in front of me and I couldn't let that happen. Take it for what it is; obvious damn evidence that you ARE worth saving, Peter Venkman."

Peter blinked at Ray's determined expression, once again rendered speechless. Ray continued, he had one last point to make.

"I wont lie, I was scared, but if you rewound time, I would STILL do whatever it took to save you. That's what you've been doing for me, Peter, don't you see that?"

Still speechless, Peter opened and shut his mouth, floundering at this revelation.

"Now, given that evidence, do you still think you don't deserve me?" Ray asked, expression full of a mix of belief and heartbreaking hope.

Peter took a shaky breath, weighing everything Ray had said against his past. He'd been neglected a lot, his dad always busy with the next con or simply too distracted to see him. He'd become used to being alone, so letting Ray get close to his heart had been a big step. But he treasured this sweet-natured man above all else and he couldn't stand to lose him….that was the truth. If it meant braving his personal fear, it was worth it.

He reached up a hand and stroked Ray's cheek gently, marvelling at how soft his skin was.

"Ray, I don't want to let you go, I just thought you'd be safer without me. That was a mistake..."

Ray softened, hearing Peter speak so honestly.

"I was an ass to say that to you. If you think I still deserve you, than I believe it, because I believe YOU my dear Raymond. Can you forgive me?" Peter asked softly, studying the handsome Ghostbuster sat before him.

Ray smiled and kissed Peter's lips lightly "Yes, I can. I was upset, but you should know by now that I wouldn't let you push me away that easily. As I pointed out earlier, I'm not giving up on you. No matter how much you try to lie to yourself.."

Peter had never felt such a burden lift as he did right then, if his sweet Raymond could believe that strongly in him, maybe it was time he did too?

"That's my Peter." Ray said as he seen Peter relax, relief causing his vision to blur.

"Oh crap- don't cry Ray, please!" Peter begged, close to breaking down himself, every emotion crashing down at once "I'm sorry-"

Ray cut him off, kissing him gently. When Peter tried to break away and say he was sorry again, Ray just pinned him to the unit by his shoulders and kissed him even harder, burying his hands in Peter's hair. Eventually, he felt Peter give in and start returning his kiss, his warm, gentle hands wrapping around Ray's middle and pulling him closer until he was straddling his lap.

"Ray." Peter whispered, the low lighting making his eyes shine. "I've been such a fool."

Ray nodded, kissing him softly "Just a little, but your heart's in the right place-"

"Yeah, stuffed up my ass-"

Ray uttered a snort of laughter and shook his head, smiling "it's behind a lot of barriers, you just need to give it more freedom, give your heart a break."

He kissed Peter again, hearing him hiccup in relief as they parted. Peter closed his eyes and ran his fingers over Ray's face, memorizing his features behind the darkness of his eyelids. His breath caught in his throat as Ray kissed the tips of fingers, his lips were soft and warm. So inviting...

"I'll make this up to you-" he vowed as he opened his eyes.

"You don't need to, just promise me you'll remember what I told you. You are worth the WORLD, Peter, don't you dare forget it."

Peter kissed him again, pouring all his gratitude into the smooch. Ray uttered a soft moan at the intensity of the kiss, pressing himself against Peter's body.

"Thank you, Raymond." Peter whispered in his ear, making shivers race up Ray's back.

As they kissed again, Peter felt Ray's fingers toying with his jumpsuit zip. He blushed, pulling back to raise an eyebrow questioningly at Ray.

"I missed you." Ray said coyly, kissing Peter's lips again, briefly "but if you REALLY want a way to make it up to me for what happened earlier-"

He was seized and kissed hotly, left breathless when Peter finally released him. Their eyes met, stress fading to desire.

Peter nuzzled at Ray's neck and chest as he aided the red-head in unbuttoning his shirt and trousers. They barely parted, save for when they needed their hands to help one another remove an article of clothing.

Soon, Peter's tan-coloured jumpsuit and Ray's jacket, shirt and other items of clothing were off to one side. Their bodies seemed to fit so perfectly together, Ray felt like they belonged as pieces did in a puzzle.

He dug his nails into Peter's shoulders as they began, oh how he'd missed this-

* * *

Ray groaned softly as he felt Peter's fingers dig into his hips, steadying him as they moved. He braced his hands against the thrumming containment unit now, feeling like his heart rate was almost a match for it, as if their steady rhythm was an accompaniment to the ghost-prison.

"Peter-!" Ray gasped, tremors assailing his body as he felt the peak approaching.

Peter nuzzled into Ray's throat, feeling the man's pulse racing through his skin as he kissed and nibbled on his neck, leaving his mark.

"Yes?" he said huskily. He was lost in the heat and scent of Raymond's body, it was almost intoxicating.

Ray leaned in and whispered three very important words in Peter's ear as they moved together, his voice like silk. Peter felt his heart could burst with happiness as with one last movement, things hit their climax. He held Ray close, revelling in the sounds the man made, the way he gasped Peter's name...

The containment units low bass rumbling became the only noise once more as they came down from the sheer pleasure of what they'd just done.

"Ray- you mean that?" Peter whispered, a little out of breath.

Ray nodded "Yes, Peter. Every word."

Peter kissed him, grateful for Ray's heart, it was something he could rely on, something he'd looked for his whole life. He whispered this to Ray, who smiled and kissed him gently as he got up off of Peter's lap. Peter groaned softly, that'd been, wow.

"That was HOT, Raymond." he said, looking at Ray as they got to work pulling their pants back up and were soon redressed. They quickly cleaned up any evidence on the floor, wiped the handprints off the unit and soon the machine looked as undisturbed as ever.

"We are NEVER telling Egon about this, ok? He will clobber us." Peter said with a grin at Ray, who blushed and nodded.

"Good Raymond." Peter teased, making Ray give him that "very funny' look, only to grin a second later.

Peter settled himself atop the railing and pulled Ray into his arms for a kiss. Ray's hands traced the seams of his jumpsuit, before holding his sides gently so he couldn't fall.

"I'm sorry Ray-"

"Hush." Ray said "It's OK Peter. I'm sorry I scared you, I'll be more careful in future, but you gotta work with me here."

"Oh?" Peter asked quizzically.

"Mm-hmm." Ray smiled, not hearing the sound of the door clicking "trust me, trust what I told you. You may have the others fooled, but I know you're not as bad as you claim, Peter. Now drop it, alright?"

Peter flushed, his dear Raymond was being so bold! He framed Stantz's face gently in his hands, grinned and promptly kissed him again.

"OK, now I'm gonna barf!"

Peter yelped loudly as the voice broke his concentration, leaning back and almost overbalancing. He would've fallen to the floor in fact, if Ray hadn't been holding him so securely. Ray quickly steadied him and they both looked up...

They seen their co-workers leaning over the railing at the top of the steps, grinning evilly (well, in Winston's case anyway.). Egon was trying not to laugh, a rarity for him.

Peter just casually flipped him off, much to Winston's amusement. Egon rolled his eyes and Ray let his forehead bump Peter's shoulder, giggling merrily.

"Seriously, it's good to see you back, Ray." Egon said and Ray helped Peter to the floor, then let go and darted up the stairs to greet his friends. Peter glanced at the gantry where they'd just finished doing the old 'horizontal hello' (did it count as horizontal if you were sitting up?), then set off after Ray.

* * *

That evening, he sat cosied up to Ray as they watched the TV, a bowl of popcorn between them. He couldn't seem to stop smiling from a mix of relief that he hadn't blown things and having Ray back safe and sound.

"They're adorable, aren't they?" Janine whispered to Egon, who smiled and gave a miniscule nod. He didn't think he'd ever seen Peter this happy in himself. He'd detected some residual guilt over the incident and even Ray had brought it up to him.

It looked like they had likely had an argument over it, with Peter trying to push Ray away so he wouldn't hurt him, but getting opposite results. When he and Winston had nudged open the door, they'd heard Ray telling Peter to drop the issue, then the two had kissed. Peter's relief was written all over his body language and his smile was finally genuine.

Whatever Ray had said or done, Egon concluded that the two of them were on a firmer footing than ever.

And he was right. Until the weekend with the last person Peter wanted to see again – his father.


	3. Family Matters

It was in a town quite far up New York, a good afternoons driving.

Peter and Ray hired a car for the job, so as to keep Ecto-1 close to its home base. Ray was a little concerned about the engine and had advised Winston and Egon how best to fix it before he left.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on it, Ray." Egon assured him for the third time as Ray fidgeted anxiously with the latch on the trunk of the car. Peter had gotten behind the wheel in anticipation of leaving, but on hearing Ray worrying again, he got out and marched up to his precocious doctor Stantz.

"Ray, get your rear in that car. Your precious baby will be just fine and we really need to leave, like now."

"I know, but..." Ray tailed off as Peter raised an eyebrow at him and felt himself flush. Peter had a way of looking at him that suggested he knew his dear Raymond was being a mother hen and was intent on stopping him.

And winning too.

Now he set his hands on Ray's shoulders, turned him around and firmly steered him towards the passenger side door. When Ray tried to twist round to impart one last piece of advice to the remaining two Ghostbusters, Peter decided it was time to take drastic measures. Out of sight of the others, he made use of the sneak attack known as "pinch your butt". Ray squeaked softly, face reddening and Peter used this advantage to sit Ray down in the passenger seat.

"See ya later, don't set anything on fire." He shut the passenger door, vaulted over the hood of the car and slid in behind the wheel in one fluid motion, giving Ray a cheeky wink.

"No promises I'm afraid, given the statistics of our work." Egon said dryly as the vehicle finally left.

* * *

"Stop fretting."

Ray jumped as Peter's voice broke into his musings. He flushed guiltily, casting a glance at Peter as he drove.

"It's up to just us to stop this thing, remember?" Peter took his eyes off the road long enough to give Ray a smile "you and me~"

He added a flirtatious wink, for he was looking forward to the trip for another reason. It meant he'd have Ray to himself that night. Exclusively his, to have and to ravish.

Peter loved those lazy afternoons and evenings where it was just them and they could make love atop the sheets of the spare bed with wild abandon. Where Peter could relish in the dulcet tones of his sweet Raymond as he took him, not needing to worry about the noise or disturbing the others.

But lately, they'd been so busy as a whole that the couple had had to reign in their wistful desires. A kiss sneaked in as they did the dishes or a swift embrace as Ray sat at his workbench were all they could get. They were often too tired to find time to be together, to the frustration of Peter's libido.

So when Egon had steered him aside, saying he needed him and Ray to go off on a separate case, Venkman was half convinced the guy was offering them a chance for a break. Not that Egon ever gave any hint of what he was feeling, the guy was the master of the poker face.

The call they were driving up to was from a man who owned one of the largest shopping malls in the town, the place was still fresh out of the oven, having only opened the previous week.

Ray was absorbed in the paperwork Egon had given him, murmurings to himself as he considered the possibilities.

"Maybe a full torso apparition? What do you think, Peter?"

"I'm thinking more along the lines of a full-on orgasmic- wait, are we talking about my plans for you tonight, or-?"

Ray facepalmed, yet his heart pounded hard and fast nonetheless. He fidgeted in his seat, eyes on his hands as they came to rest atop his lap. Peter shifted gears to drive with one hand, the other gently caressing Ray's thigh and hearing that beautiful hitch of breath in Ray's throat. Ray tried not to blush, but failed as the heat of Peter's palm seemed to pierce the layers he wore to reach his skin, making it tingle. He clasped Peter's warm hand in his for a moment as it hovered on his knee, before releasing it so Venkman could continue driving.

* * *

Ray bit his lip as they approached the other limits of the town. His stomach jumped in excitement for not just the discovery of this ghost, but of the night to come. He and Peter, just them and a fresh, neatly made bed...

"We're here cutie," Peter brushed his fingers over Ray's forehead, brushing his soft red hair aside in a sweetly innocent gesture.

"Ah, of course!" Ray's scientific side emerged and his eyes gleamed in a way Peter thought was pretty sexy. He watched as Ray gathered the papers that'd slid off his lap during the drive and scrambled with the door handle, stumbling out into the sunlight.

Peter shut off the car, stretching his back until it popped as he stepped out onto the pavement.

"Here." Peter blinked as Ray appeared by his side, his own proton pack already strapped to his back and was holding Peter's out toward him now. Peter gave him a quick quirk of a smile as he shrugged it on, before turning his attention to the building ahead.

The shoppers murmured and called out in curiosity as they seen the familiar uniforms moving through the crowds.

"They love us, Ray!" Peter grinned, waving to some kids as they walked by.

"That's nice Peter, but we need to find mr Auriga. He owns this place, his office has to be around here somewhere- _whoa_!"

Both Ray and his sentence came to an abrupt halt as a big beefy guy in a uniform stepped into his path. He glared down at Ray, mirrored glasses giving no emotion away. Ray gulped nervously, stepping back and bumping into Peter as he turned from waving to some more fans.

"Whoa now-" Peter steadied Ray with a hand to his shoulder, then he seen the suits "who called the goon platoon?"

"Mr Auriga wants to see you gentlemen, now." The first one said and the second just nodded mutely. Ray shared glances with Peter and followed after the two security guards.

* * *

Mr Auriga turned out to be a big heavyset gentleman with a thin moustache and thinning black hair.

"Ah, you must be the Ghostbusters, right?"

"Nah, we're the exterminators, someone saw a cockroach-" Peter cut off as Ray nudged him.

"Yes, we are." Ray stepped forward, smiling "I'm Doctor Ray Stantz and this is Doctor Peter Venkman."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Mr Auriga said humourlessly while glaring at Peter, who tried not to laugh.

"There has been the tortured crying of a woman filling this place at night and it's starting to affect business. Whoever this ghostly woman is, I want her gone!" he thumped a hand on the desk, making both men jump.

"Well, have you tried asking her?" Ray bleated, earning Auriga's glare "I-I'm not pulling your leg, sometimes spirits just want to pass on a message-"

"I don't have time to gallivant around chatting up spirits, that's YOUR job, that's why I'm hiring YOU. Deal with it by the end of tonight and I'll ensure you get a sizeable bonus, now get to it!"

* * *

"Ass." Peter remarked softly under his breath once they were alone in the hall outside reception. Straightening his collar, he took off at a loping stride, Ray alongside him.

"Well, he's an ass we have to work for, I'm afraid. C'mon, let's take a look around, he said it's coming from the basement. Maybe this'll be a quick in-and-out job-" Ray said, only to be cut off by a muffled snort.

"Can't _believe_ that just came out of my mouth." Ray groaned, face palming.

"I thought it was cute." Peter said seductively as he leaned in towards Ray under the presence of pressing the elevator call button. Ray blushed, fiddling with the set of keys Auriga had given them, letting his gaze drift over the expensive looking paintings lining the walls as they waited.

-I wish I was as confident as Peter...- he mused, envying his devil-may-care attitude, his easy flirting.

The elevator finally arrrived and they stepped inside.

Selecting the basement, Peter glanced around, seen there was no camera in the lift and slid his hand down Ray's back, ending with giving Ray's bum a quick grope. This made Ray squeak in that adorable manner whilst rounding on Peter, his face flushed.

"What?" Peter said, grinning innocently as the elevator reached its destination and uttered a soft ringing noise. Ray sighed loudly then set off ahead of Peter as the doors opened, striding down a corridor lit by fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling at regular intervals.

"Wow, cheerful ain't it?" Peter grumbled. "The bits the public never see."

Ray opened a door as Venkman complained, looking into what seemed to be a broom storage closet. He'd borrowed one of Egon's PKE meters, but the thing didn't react a smidge. He shook his head, shutting the door and carrying on. They went over every nook and cranny but nothing made the PKE meter even so much as twitch. Eventually, they settled in an employee break room to wait it out.

They remained there the whole evening, occasionally drifting into the mall above to grab some coffee before returning down below to wait.

* * *

As the time dragged on, Peter yawned.

"Ray, nothing's happening." he whined, putting his feet up on the break-room table "I'm bored."

Sitting atop the back of the couch, Ray opened his mouth to tell Peter to be professional when the pen he'd been twirling between his fingers fell out of his grasp now and landed on the floor behind the seat. He sighed, twisting and leaning over it to try grab the thing.

"What was that, Peter?' he asked absently, but Peter didn't answer.

"Peter?" The innocent Ray asked again, had he fallen asleep? Then he heard Peter shift, heard the ageing leather creak. So he was awake alright, but what-

His face turned red. Oh boy.

Peter was indeed shamelessly admiring Ray's rear end in that uniform, as he'd just concluded.

Ray noticed the continued silence and sighed. His face reddened even more as he fought to get his embarrassment under control. He let his body go limp, slumping over the couch, preparing to say yet another preposterous sentence.

"Peter, are you staring at my ass?"

"Indeed I am. It's a very nice ass, I'd vote for it." Peter said bluntly and Ray groaned, pulling himself back up, that traitorous pen in hand.

"Aw." Peter pouted as the distraction recovered it's wits and sat back down. Ray rolled his eyes and jabbed Peter's side with his pen.

"We're not here for you to ogle me, Peter." he said, blushing profusely. Peter responded by slipping an arm around Ray's waist.

"Why, theres no cameras in here?" he drawled, kissing the tip of Ray's nose. Ray went even redder, squeaking in frustration at Peter's singular determination to get some while on the job. Yet, he could feel his own body yearning to give in.

"Later..." he promised, earning a quick pat on the side as Peter relented and he dropped his guard, flopping back against the couch. That was when Peter moved too fast for Ray to stop him and before he knew what was going on, he was now sat on Peter's lap. He squawked indignantly, blushing even more.

"So adorkable." Peter teased. His grin set Ray's heart racing, and their lips were just about to touch, when-

A loud ghostly wail cut the air and they both yelped, Ray toppling off Peter's lap and landing on the floor while Peter went tense as a board.

"What in blazes what THAT?" the dazed Stantz asked as his voice box unfroze and he scrambled to his feet.

"A real mood killer?" Peter sighed, getting up and looking around the room.

Ray grabbed the PKE meter and upon seeing the readings were off the chart, he raced out of the room with Peter hot on his heels, shrugging their proton packs on as they ran.

Up ahead, Ray seen the silhouette of a woman, she was looking around as if she'd lost something.

"Miss?" Ray asked. She seen him and screamed in heartbreaking fury, making Ray's head pound and he had to grab the wall to save from collapsing as his stomach heaved. Beside him, he heard Peter give a heavy retching sound...

"Please…..let us help!" he gasped.

"I want my bones! This accursed empire of glass and stone has them!" she wailed, then fled up the stairwell, heading for the shopping floor.

Her influence faded and the two ghostbusters crumpled to thier knees, leaning against one another for support. Ray wiped sweat from his eyes, drawing a shaky breath as he gripped Peter's elbow, helping him to his feet.

"Geez, bet she's a shoe-in at talent shows!" Peter groused, rubbing his forehead.

"We gotta find out why she's so mad." Ray looked at his watch, the shops stayed open late here, there would still be people up there!

He raced away, Peter right behind him.

"What was all that screaming about? What in the world did she mean?" Venkman asked as Ray hammered anxiously on the button for the elevator.

"I don't know.." Ray panted, blinking dizzily as he fully recovered his senses. He looked at his reflection in the brass doors of the elevator as they waited for it to arrive.

"-wait, that's it! She said 'this accursed empire', could that be the mall? To her it may seem like a kingdom. This place, I'm sure I seen a plaque about its history on our way in, we need to find it!"

Peter nodded, mouth dry as he gripped his proton gun tightly. The doors opened and they spilled out onto the shopping area where, sure enough, the ghost was rushing about, pulling her hair and wailing. Terrified customers dropped their bags and fled for cover, streaming around the two Ghostbusters like a river bends round an island.

Ray looked back towards the entrance, running full pelt towards it. Peter started to follow, then more screams met his ears...

"I'll stay and keep her occupied!" Peter called, spinning on his heel and facing the direction the ghost was in "I can't risk someone getting hurt!"

"Peter?"

"Just hurry back, Ray!" Peter grinned, before racing off. Ray watched him go, a smile at Peter's protective nature gracing his face for a second before it dissipated and he ran full pelt for the entrance.

* * *

He stowed his gun, eyes darting around the massive arched entrance. A flurry of leaflets and maps scrunched underfoot as he looked for the same gleam his eyes had been attracted to as they'd come in. He soon found the plaque he wanted, scrambling up onto the help desk to get a closer look at it.

He read it quickly, one line making his eyes widen. He flicked through the digital spirit guide he'd built, comparing its details to the plaque's.

"Of course, it makes sense now. The area has been renamed!" he whispered, then ran back towards where Peter was. Most of the civilians had cleared out in panic at news of the ghost. His bootsteps echoed eerily in the space as he ran fast as he could to where he'd left Venkman.

He rounded the corner and felt a stab of panic. The ghost had Peter cornered against a wall, creating a fierce wind that whipped at him, meaning he was trapped. Ray looked around him, what could he do?

The ghost had said the place had her bones, did that mean she was buried in the walls? It had to be an outside wall, the insides of this once massive house had been torn out, only the exterior left as a stylish affectation to a modern building.

The wall needed to be big enough to house a human body-

His eyes settled on the back wall. According to the plaque and the engraving of an old house on it, the section of wall near the back had once housed a chimney. What if she'd been buried in it and then the one who'd killed her had had it sealed up? She was so angry, chances were it'd been murder. Spirits born of violent ends were often filled with an untamed rage...

He looked over at Peter, who was finding it hard to breathe in the roaring wind and took aim at the wall in question, unleashing the full stream on the proton gun. The wall blasted open as he raked the high-energy beam up it. As the dust settled, he ran up close to it and felt the faintest breeze on his face. Checking the direction, he figured there had to be an opening somewhere, however narrow. He fired in short blasts, the dust making him cough and choke heavily.

He could feel the heat of the proton pack as he fire again and again. At last, as the beam faded, he seen a piece of pale white bone poking out.

With a gasp of relief, he began pulling the bricks out by hand, eventually freeing enough of them to make the body fall free. He caught it clumsily, seeing how fragile it was.

The ghost stopped abruptly, letting Venkman fall to the floor with a wheeze as the wind died down. Blinking through teary eyes, he seen a shape he recognised as Ray standing behind the ghost now, saying something.

As his senses came back to him, Peter seen Ray was coated in plaster dust and cradling a skeleton in his arms.

"This is you, isn't it?" Ray asked, sympathy in his eyes. The ghost came closer, looking down at the bones Ray had retrieved. As Ray watched with baited breath, she changed into a beautiful young woman, her twisted features reclaiming their lost youth.

"Yes it is, young sir." she whispered "I was killed by my own brother, he wanted the estate. I was disturbed when this castle become an empire of glass."

"Someone new bought the house," Ray explained, "made it into a place where lots of people can gather and buy things."

"Like a market?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Ray beamed "I'm so sorry they disturbed your rest, but I promise I'll have your bones buried, what's your name?"

"Christine," she whispered "Christine Waterman."

"I'll make sure your bones get some rest, ms Waterman." Ray said sadly. Peter got up and walked over, offering the ghost a smile. He tucked a hand into the crook of Ray's elbow, glad he was alright. The ghost seen the small gesture and a little smile tugged at her lips, eyes shimmering. Truly, these men were of a different breed, with hearts of gold.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't intend to hurt you." she said.

"Ah, no worries doll." Peter smiled "we all get angry when we feel lost, we'll lay you to rest and you'll be OK."

"Thank you both.." she whispered, ghostly tears falling and then she vanished in a flare of light.

"Wow," Ray whispered " I don't believe it, she passed on! She must feel her bones are safe with us-"

"What in blazes did you DO?!"

Ray ended his sentence with a squeak of alarm and both men turned as they seen Auriga and his two security goons approached. Peter's hand slipped unseen from Ray's elbow and he squared his shoulders, prepared to defend his friends actions.

"I didn't pay you to destroy my work-!" Auriga stared in horror at the crevasses running up the back wall and the smoke drifting in the air. Peter growled softly, but was surprised when Ray's defiant side came out again and the red-head spoke up.

"No," Ray said, stepping forward and revealing what he carried in his arms "you paid us to stop the ghost and we DID. Her bones were buried within your walls, they were disturbed when you finished the renovations."

Auriga stared in shock at the skeleton Ray carried so gently. His eyes drifted to Ray's, seeing the decency and humane sympathy within them. This odd young man was treating this skeleton like it was one of his own family.

"She was the ghost?" he asked.

"Yeah, said her name was Waterman." Peter put in, coming to stand beside Ray once more, looking down at the skeleton. Scraps of dried sinew were all that held it together, but this fact didn't seem to bother Ray.

"Waterman, that was the name of the one who sold it, they never said anything about ghosts!" Auriga frowned, anger fizzling out to be replaced by confusion.

"Likely story is, they didn't know." Ray said "going by her speech pattern, it was a long time ago, likely an ancestor on her brother's side. Her ghost said he was responsible for her death, that he murdered her for the estate."

"Good heavens." Auriga's bluster had all gone out of him now, the evidence was right in front of him, a real skeleton. Ray's story made things even clearer. "what a tragic end."

"I promised she'd receive a burial." Ray said softly, yet his face was determined as he took another step towards Auriga. This triggered his guards to step forward protectively but Ray didn't spare them a second glance as he carried on speaking "so if you could direct me to the nearest funeral agency-"

"No need. I'll add it as part of your payment." Auriga said, thinking about how his own family had a history of feuds in its past and what a waste it was of a life. "I'll call someone right away."

He gestured the body guards to stand down, looking at Ray and Peter with curiosity.

"Why don't you come to my office, I'll have some coffee made."

Peter had to admit that sounded good and Ray agreed.

* * *

Auriga found a box Ray could lay the remains in, then stored them in his office safe. The two Ghostbusters, one coated in plaster dust, sat on the couch looking pretty beat as they gratefully clutched cups of coffee.

Ray sneezed again and Peter patted his shoulder.

* * *

By the time they left, it was almost midnight, so they travelled to the hotel Peter had booked over the phone. Thankfully it wasn't far, they were pretty wiped out.

"Where'd you guys come from, a building site?" the receptionist asked, looking at Ray as he and Peter approached the desk.

"In a manner of speaking. We got a room booked, name of dr Venkman." Peter said, smiling in that "get the key and stop staring" way of his. The receptionist rolled his eyes and disappeared into the back room.

Ray sighed heavily, slumping against Peter.

"Tired?" Peter chuckled, patting his shoulder and Ray nodded.

"I'm glad we found her bones, but she didn't half give us the run around, huh?" The redhead managed a faint smile despite the long evening.

"Indeed, Ray old buddy." Peter said drowsily, muffling a yawn with his hand.

Dimly, he heard the door open and shut behind them and a voice he dreaded and never expected to hear again broke the peaceful silence.

"Peter? Is that you, my boy?"

"Oh, please no. No, no, no..." Peter wailed softly and causing Ray to straighten up as he slowly turned round, his heart sinking. But there was no denying who it was.

"Dad..?" Peter asked, as if he'd somehow turn out to be wrong. Ray blinked at this bombshell, turning round to see the man for himself.

"Dr Venkman?" he asked, puzzled.

"Peter! Haha, great to see you!" Peter's dad laughed jovially as he strode up to his son and hugged him, not seeming to see or feel Peter going rigid as a board. He let him go and turned to the dusty fellow stood just behind his son.

"Now, who're you again, fella?"

"This is Ray. You met last time, only he wasn't covered in plaster dust then." Peter said tersely.

"You battle a ghost at a build site?" Venkman senior looked Ray up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"Shopping mall, actually." Ray coughed "her bones were buried in the walls."

"Eugh, talk about gruesome!" Peter's dad shuddered.

"Anyway, nice to see you dad, we gotta go to bed." Peter said, spotting the receptionist returning with the keys "you shuffle on home, now-"

"Oh, Dr Venkman-"

Both Peter and his father said "yes?" in response to this and the confused receptionist did a double take at the paperwork.

"Wait, that's why I've been getting so confused!" He looked at the two sets of keys, then at Peter and his father "There are two dr Venkmans!"

"Yes, this smart alec Ghostbuster happens to be my son!" Venkman snr said with a laugh, while Peter clenched his fists and scowled at him.

"Is that our room key?" Ray asked the receptionist politely, so as to divert attention from Peter.

"Twin double room?

"That's right."

The receptionist nodded and held out the correct key. Ray quickly scooped it up, grabbed Peter's arm and towed him towards the stairs, calling back.

"It was nice seeing you again, Dr Venkman, have a good night now!"

Then they were gone.

"Ah, those boys." Venkman snr chuckled to the bewildered receptionist "always in such high spirits, get it? Haha!"

He took his own key, musing to himself that he should go see Peter. He'd spotted the room number as Ray had taken the key from the chap at the desk, maybe he could talk about a deal with them?

He stopped off at his room to tidy himself up before setting off to go see his son.

* * *

"I can't BELIEVE this!" Peter fumed, stalking back and forth. Ray sat on the bed and watched him, brow creased in a worried frown.

"I'm sure it'll be OK Peter, we're only here for another night, after this. We'll stay out of his way-"

"You don't get it Ray, he knows we're here and now he'll never leave us alone!" Peter looked so stressed out that Ray was getting seriously worried. He needed to calm Peter down.

He waited until Peter finally took a break from pacing, then got up and stood in front of him.

"It'll be OK." he said softly, taking Peter's hands in his and squeezing them gently.

"Ray.." Peter said softly, looking downcast as ever. Ray closed the distance between them and kissed Peter, the warmth of his lips going some way to relaxing the stressed Venkman.

Ray continued to kiss him, deepening it with every kiss until he felt Peter's arms wrap around his waist, holding him tightly.

"What do you say we go get a shower?" Ray whispered as they parted "I AM rather dusty."

"Sounds perfect..." Peter whispered, feeling his pulse race at the suggestion of tending to his precious Raymond...

Ray smiled as he read Peter's desire in his eyes and the way Peter licked his lips. There was a series of muted clicks as he unbuckled his belt, letting it flutter to the carpet. Stepping back, he now unzipped the jumpsuit slowly, letting it fall to the floor and stepping nimbly out it in such a fluid motion that Peter flushed just a little, unable to take his eyes off him.

Ray flashed Peter a very knowing smile then sauntered towards the bathroom, feeling the undergarments cling to his body after the exertion of the evening.

"Wow." Peter mouthed to himself, then darted after his seductive little Raymond.

* * *

The shower took a while, between thier passionate kisses and Peter "examining" Ray to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere.

Ray continued to coax him out of his doldrums, pressing his body against Peter's as the hot water poured down. His fingers linked at the base of Venkman's spine, his lips snaring Peter's again and again. At last, Peter could wait no longer, the need was too great...

They barely made it to the first of the two beds before they were tangled in one another again and Peter felt his frustration fade as he looked down at his partner. They had the night to themselves and he aimed to thank his precious Ray for cheering him up…

Ray gasped in utter bliss as Peter began, an intense shiver running up his spine. The first time they'd done this, he'd been so self-conscious that Peter had gone all-out to ravish him head to toe and proving he really did love him the way he was.

They did their best to muffle their voices, but the odd moan of pleasure and cry of passion did escape. Peter kissed Ray as they finished, feeling the gorgeous red-head moaning urgently into the kiss, his arms wrapped tightly around Peter's shoulders.

"Mmhh….hahh...' Peter let Ray go, breathing heavily "You. Are. Wonderful."

Ray blushed, nuzzling his lover's nose "speak for yourself." he said in a sultry voice.

Peter kissed him again, leaving him even more breathless as he moved back and settled on the bed beside Ray. The exhausted Ray sat up, gently pinning Peter to the bed by his shoulders so he could kiss him.

"Feel better?" he asked. Peter looked up at him, loving the sight of Ray dishevelled and with a sheen of sweat dusting his skin. His soft, gentle eyes were full of satisfaction and those lips were curved into a sweet smile. Peter reached up, tracing the curve of Ray's jaw in a silent awe.

His fingers moved to a set of three jagged scars on Ray's left shoulder, recalling the cause behind it and the way they'd made love beside the containment unit after Peter had tried to blame himself for Ray's injury.

"Damn, Ray." Peter breathed, pulling him down for a kiss. Ray smiled, wrapping Peter in his arms and returning the affection with equal fervour. They got under the covers, sleeping in one another's embrace.

Peter sighed happily, the scent of Ray's skin making him feel happier then he ever dared hope. He had Ray, he had hope...

* * *

The next morning, they were just enjoying a very explorative kiss by the bathroom door when there came a knock. Ray squeaked and Peter ushered him into the bathroom, passing him his loosely folded clothes pile from last night as he headed to the door. He was dressed in his shirt and shorts and was just zipping his jumpsuit up as he opened the door.

"Ye- nope."

He seen it was his father and made to slam the door shut, but his dad put a hand out to stop it.

"Peter, just wanted to have a quick word with you boy." he grinned cheerfully, acting as carefree as he ever did. Peter's stomach churned, but he did his best to show no emotion as he reluctantly let his father in.

"OK, what do you want?" he said.

"Just wanted to know why you never let me in on your little secret." Venkman snr said, grinning ear to ear in anticipation.

"What're you talking about, dad?" Peter snapped. His dad slung an arm around his shoulder, leaning in close.

"You know, the little secret about you and your fella."

"What?!" Peter hissed, barely restraining his voice as a bolt of fear hit him. He didn't want to alert Ray, he'd try and stop Peter from knocking his dad out.

"You don't know what your talking about, you lunatic!" he snapped instead, shoving his father back towards the door. "You're leaving. NOW."

"Aww, don't I at least get to congratulate him? A Venkman's quite a catch you know-"

"Dad, stop making stuff up and leave!" Peter hissed again, his heart was about ready to snap apart at the seams, but his father just chuckled.

"You don't need to lie about it, my boy. I dropped by your room after you stormed off yesterday, I wanted to apologise. But it seems you were, uh, 'occupied' with that young man. "Raymond", isn't it? So that's his full name, good to know."

Peter slammed his hand into the door above his father's head wth an audible growl in his throat. Venkman snr blinked, a little worried now, Peter wasn't calming down, this wasn't what he'd anticipated at all. He'd thought that Peter would be pleased he was trying to support him! He tried a different tack:

"Do your other friends know? They must do, surely, I never thought to ask-"

"Dad, I swear I will find a way to legally change my name and erase myself from our family altogether if you so much as breathe one goddamn word about this. I don't care what you think and you don't care about me past making a fast buck. Now get OUT!"

In the bathroom Ray had been dressed, fully suited and booted, for a good couple of minutes now. He had his ear pressed to the door, stomach lurching as he heard Peter's dad come in. All was fairly silent at first, their voices inaudible through the wooden door, but then Peter's voice peaked, yelling at his father to leave.

Worried beyond what he could stand, he darted out of the safety of the bathroom, looking over at Peter.

"You OK, Peter?" he asked gently. He missed the way Venkman snr took in his ruffled hair and grinned in glee, but his son didn't.

Peter grabbed his dad's collar and turned him out the door.

"Leave. Me. ALONE." he hissed with such anger that his dad didn't have a smart alec reply ready. He drifted away from the door as Peter slammed it hard enough to make it rattle.

"Peter.." Ray said, shaking in concern. Peter hit the door with his hand, bruising his knuckles.

"I hate him." Peter said through clenched teeth, "that liar will ruin EVERYTHING!"

"Peter, please!" Ray cried, starting to feel scared. Peter was so angry, was he really going to sever all ties with his dad? "I-I'm sure we can talk to him-"

"No, it wont do any good." Peter shook his head, feeling close to breaking as Ray's warm body pressed against his. He slumped to the floor, feeling his heart break at the thought of the one amazing thing in his life being lost because of his con-artist father.

Ray sat next to him, stroking his back and murmuring soft assurances until Peter's breakdown slowed and his gut-wrenching cries trailed off. Seeing Peter's knuckles all bruised and red, he lifted the hand to his mouth and kissed the injury gently.

"This is why I can't have anything decent in my life, Ray." Venkman said dully, the affectionate gesture making his heart hurt a little less "because sooner or later, that man will ruin it. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Peter." Ray said, but Peter didn't reply. Ray got him to his feet and over to the bed, sitting him down and picking up the phone. He ordered breakfast be brought to the room so Peter didn't have to leave but Venkman barely picked at his food. He'd retreated into himself and even Ray's efforts to kiss him senseless barely raised a smile.

"I'm sorry Ray, it's not you. I just need some time to think." Peter sighed and Ray stroked his face, kissing his cheek and nodding.

"I'll go pick up some snacks and stuff for later then and you stay here, handsome." he teased, finally getting a faint smile from Peter.

Ray kissed him once more before reluctantly leaving his precious Venkman alone.

* * *

Alone in the room, Peter sighed, feeling the gloom creeping back in with the absence of the beacon of hope Ray had become. Why did he have to be punished for his father's stupidity?

He thought of Ray, of the job he had. These were the things he loved. His fathers stupidity had put the latter in danger once before and now the former, the love of his life, was next.

The phone rang and Peter picked it up without thinking "yeah?"

"Hey, son."

Peter froze, how could he have been so dumb? His grip tightened around the plastic of the handset, blood rushing loudly in his ears.

"You there? Hay, just give me a minute, there's a reporter downstairs-"

"Dad, you-" Peter called him something he'd never have thought of "-thats it, I'm DONE. As far as you're concerned, you don't HAVE a son."

He slammed the phone down, ignoring the faint squawking sounds as his father tried to explain it wasn't like THAT. His own breathing sounded raspy and loud in the quiet room, his head spinning.

Suddenly feeling like his fury couldn't be contained, Peter got up off the bed and stormed out of the hotel room. He raced through the halls, escaping out a back exit whereupon he set off running, not paying any attention to where he went.

If he had, he would've seen Ray out of the corner of his eye, carrying a bag of groceries into the hotel.

* * *

Ray hummed softly as he unlocked the room door and edged in.

"Peter!" he said with a smile "I got you some of that cake you like- hm?"

Peering round the bag, he seen Peter was gone. Flashbacks to the kidnap incident made him shiver, but he pushed it aside. He'd probably just gone out for a walk. But wouldn't he have left a note?

Ray set the bag down, seeing now that the phone had been slammed so hard into the cradle that it'd cracked slightly. Something had called Peter and that something, or someone, had made him very mad.

Only one person came to mind that'd cause that. Ray spun on his heel, charging back out the door, running down a flight of stairs to the next floor and stopping outside a certain room. When the receptionist had been sorting the keys last night, Ray had caught sight of the room number for Peter's father and now he hammered on the door, anger and worry battling for control.

* * *

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming, who is it-" Venkman snr pulled the door open with a sigh but halted when he seen a flushed and angry Ray stood there. Without waiting for an invitation, Ray stormed in, shoving the door shut with one kick of his boot.

"R-raymond, isn't it?" Venkman snr stammered and he backed up even more as Ray whirled on him.

"It's just Ray to you, sir and we need to talk."

"What do you mean?"

"Where is Peter?"

"I don't know!" Venkman snr shook his head.

"I know you called him," Ray said icily "and now he's run off. He's been miserable all morning and I know how self-destructive Peter can get when he's hurt. I'm guessing whatever you said this morning AND on the phone while I was out hurt him BAD. Now tell me!"

"A-alright, I called him! There was a reporter downstairs-"

Ray slammed a hand down on the table, making the glass of gin rattle and fall over, the liquid pooling on the table, dripping over the edges and onto the carpet.

"You were going to ship your own son to the press? Because of who he dates? What kind of a parent are you?!" Ray fumed. He felt his head pound as he stood there, heart in his throat, how could anyone do this to their own son?

Venkman sir shook hishead, hands raised in surrender.

"Let me finish sonny, that's not it! The reporter wanted to talk to one of you two about the ghost girl from last night! Apparently she's from a prominent family way back when and the guy wanted to do a history piece. He knew there was a Venkman in this hotel, in fact he thought I was Peter when I bumped into him at breakfast. So, I said I'd try asking Peter, that way he wouldn't go looking for your room number."

"How much was he paying you?" Ray demanded coldly, not buying his story one bit. His deduction was correct as the older Venkman grinned sheepishly and made a small gesture.

"Just a small fee, for helping him find you guys. I figured I'd be able to talk Peter into coming downstairs to talk with him. It wasn't about the two of you-"

"-Which brings me to the other matter." Ray said sternly, before he could tell any more lies "I'm only going to ask one thing: which do you value more, your bank account or your only son? Because if you say the first, I will happily help Peter distance himself from you. All of us will and you don't wanna mess with the Ghostbusters, whether you're living or dead!"

Peters' father studied the way Ray talked, heard the defiance and care in his voice. He obviously cared about Peter, as his worry was written all over his softer features.

He finally gave a heavy sigh and sat down on his bed. He'd always known his mistakes would bite him in the ass, but he hadn't expected such a bite to be from his sons lover!

"I know I was a bad father, I barely paid the poor kid any attention. He was so smart, y'know, but he hid that side of himself and preferred to play the goof. Picked fights, got sent to juvie. He refused to join in on any of my uh 'work', as it were. Smart kid."

"Of course he's smart, he's a psychologist. He can talk anyone into or out of anything. If we ever need someone to talk down the mayor or the press, it's Peter. But he's more than that, when he wants to be, he's the most loyal friend you could want."

"Is that why you two got close, fella?" Venkman snr asked, seeing something in Ray's eyes "he help you in some way?"

"Yeah, he did. Stopped me getting into a potentially abusive relationship a few months ago." Ray flashed back to the Favish incident, a shiver running up his back even this far on.

"I see." Venkman senior seen the shiver and realised this seemingly gentle-mannered man had a past of his own. Like Peter, he'd had some rough times.

"Well, I'm sure glad my son's found a decent gentleman after all this time. He was always hitting on the ladies in the TV reports, yet he never seems to go steady with 'em. Yet he smiled when he was around you boys..." Venkman snr said at last.

"He does like women, he doesn't care about gender." Ray said shortly.

"Ah yes, I know the term you mean. Bi- isn't it?"

Ray nodded.

"Yeah, I read a book or two once I started seeing the pattern via his TV appearances. For awhile I thought he had the hots for the guy with the glasses?"

"Egon? No, they tend to argue more then get along, Peter winds him up something chronic." Ray smiled faintly, thinking about his life with his friends. Then he shook his head, rounding on Peter's father once more;

"This doesn't change anything. You know how your son feels about your conning people, don't you remember the ghost repellers incident?"

The Ghostbusters had had to search the new jersey parallelogram for him, barely escaping in a speedboat. The phenomena had collapsed after all the chaos, much to Egon's disappointment.

"The sad part is, Mr Venkman, he'd be happy to help you set up a legitimate business plan, anything to stop having to look over his shoulder for the shadow of your collective pasts chasing after him. When we find him, I'm sitting the both of you down and putting an end to this!"

Venkman snr nodded, actually a little scared of this man. Ray seemed on first glance to be a loveable, mild-mannered gentleman that wouldn't hurt a fly, but this was the real Ray. A passionate and caring young man who valued Peter beyond anyone else.

"Right NOW," Ray said, grabbing Venkman snr by the wrist "WE are going to look for Peter!"

"M-me? He's not gonna wanna see me-"

"He will when I explain you're going to apologise!" Ray ranted and the snr Venkman nodded again. He owed poor Peter a lifetime of sorries and missed encouragement, and now it looked like he finally had to face the music, alongside Peter's new squeeze, it seemed!

Ray dragged him out to the car park, stopping only to grab his proton pack from his room. He grabbed Peter's too as an afterthought, since he'd fled without it.

"You gonna need that kit, sonny?" Venkman snr asked.

"You never know, Dr Venkman snr." Ray said as he tossed the heavy packs in the back.

"Ah, just call me Paul, it's easier then being so damn formal. Besides, my son is the only real doctor in this family."

* * *

"Now.." Ray said as they peeled out of the parking lot "Where would Peter be likely to go?"

"Well, when he was a kid, he'd usually flee to a friends house if they were still in the area, that is."

"That doesn't help unfortunately, this is an unknown state. There must be something from his childhood, some habit?"

They fell silent as Ray drove aimlessly, both wracking their brains to try locate Peter. A drop of rain splashed onto the windshield of the car and Ray looked nervously up at the sky.

"Whoa, that looks nasty." he whistled, seeing thick grey clouds rolling in "I didn't even think about the weather turning like this! We have to find him, double time!"

"Y'know, I read in a guidebook that this place is famous for its weird weather, storm chasers are nuts for it!"

Ray pondered it, could it be the work of spirits?

He was jolted out of his musing when Paul grabbed his sleeve.

"I think I have an idea where ta find my boy!" he blurted and Ray pulled over into a side street, gaze fixed on the other man as he babbled.

"There was a sign back there, announcing the demolition of an old fairground and that the land would be up for sale soon. Peter used to love fairgrounds when he was a kid, what if he snuck in there?"

"It'd be empty, he could vent all he wanted- it's worth a shot!" Ray said, revving the engine again and taking off in the direction Paul indicated. Paul clung to the armrests as Ray drove, had this fella learned to drive from watching the police do high speed chases?!

The weather only got worse as they carried on and soon Ray was driving at a crawl, squinting through the windshield.

* * *

They got there eventually, the headlights highlighting a chainlink fence easily ten feet high that snaked around the boundary of the park.

"How'd he get over that?" Paul blanched.

"Peter's pretty flexible." Ray remarked as he opened the car door, then realsied the double meaning behind his words.

"I'll trust your judgement on that, sonny." Peter's dad snickered and Ray gave him a fierce glare, even as he felt himself blush from embarrassment.

"I blame Peter for that." he grumbled as he grabbed his proton pack and told Paul to bring the other one.

"That boy always did have a smart mouth." Paul shrugged, wincing as the rain soaked him in seconds "shame I don't have any of my old ponchos."

Ray gave him such a look then, that he figured he'd better just shut up.

Ray looked at the fence as Paul grumbled about the weather, then started walking backward.

"Sonny, what're you- whoa!" Paul began, but cut off as Ray suddenly took off, running forward and jumping as high as he could, grabbing onto the fence. Even with a proton pack weighing him down, he scrambled over the fence with an ease that his more softer physique hid.

Ray hauled himself over the top of the fence and dropped down, motioning Paul to follow him. It took significantly longer, but finally the two of them were on the other side of the fence.

"Say, why couldn't we just blast the door lock with that gun of yours?" Paul Venkman asked as they ran through the abandoned park, peering into every dimly lit corner.

"Because," Ray said "I don't want to cause criminal damage unless it's in the process of catching a spook. THAT, we can claim off the insurance, but deliberately- not so easy."

—Being their lawyer must be a tough gig..— Paul mused, then pushed that thought aside and focused on his son instead.

"Peter!" he yelled as loud as he could "Where are ya, boy?"

"PETER!" Ray cried, his voice almost lost in the howl of the wind "you here?"

They carried on this way for an unmeasurable amount of time, shouting themselves hoarse.

They were on the verge of giving up, when Ray thought he heard a faint scream and he ran off towards it, squinting through the pelting rain. He skidded round a corner, almost slipping in the mud, had Paul not grabbed his arm and halted his momentum when he did.

Up ahead was a decrepit old pier, although it still looked in better condition then most of the rides they'd passed in their search. But none of that mattered, for they'd found Peter.

The howling wasn't just from the wind, it was coming from a very angry wraith that was holding Peter up off the ground.

"Peter!" Ray cried, making both the ghost and its captive look over at him. Behind Ray, Paul dropped the second proton pack, racing after Ray as his heart felt ready to stop in his chest. That thing was trying to kill Peter!

"Ray, run!" Peter gasped around the clawed hand holding him up by his collar.

"Another of your kind, hm?" The wraith looked down at the second Ghostbuster "what excellent timing. I'll snap this ones neck and then I'll torture you! "

Ray gritted his teeth and pressed the startup button on his pack. Hearing the hum, the wraith shook its head, turning so the soaked and bedraggled Peter was held in front of it like a shield "drop it NOW, or I'll really make him suffer!"

Ray hesitated, but when the thing tightened its grip on Peter's neck, Ray shut the switch off with shaking hands.

"You can't imagine my delight when I sensed this one wandering around my prison, such delicious anger, such recklessness. I lured him here pretending to be a lost soul he could save….what a fool! Now you've come for him, you can perish together! I'll take the whole town to task for locking me up in here!"

"The hell you will!" Ray spat, fists clenching as he tried to desperately think of a plan, anything!

"You put my boy down right this instant!" Paul stepped up beside Ray, giving the thing the finger.

"Dad?!" Peter coughed, even as he began to feel light headed. Why was his father here?!

"You heard me you piece of ghost trash. Why don't you put him down and pick on someone your own age!" Paul Venkman sneered. "You're a coward you are, I can see right through you!"

As he talked, Ray crept closer to Peter, hoping if he could just get in position-

"Very well, I shall erase your entire family off the face of the earth!" the thing laughed at these taunts. Ray was all set to fire, but the ghosts eyes suddenly darted to him and with a movement of its wrist, it threw Venkman over the end of the pier.

"NO!" Ray cried, his throat raw from the force of the shout. He took off without thinking, unstrapping his proton pack and letting it clatter to the wooden boards. There was an old life-ring at the piers end, it looked a little moth-eaten but the rope was still attached. Ray grabbed it, vaulting the railings and diving off.

The cold water hit like a ton of bricks and he gasped, water flooding his lungs. Only the life ring kept him afloat and he blinked seawater from his eyes, looking desperately for Peter. But there was no sign of him on the waves so he took a deep breath, diving under the water and looking around in the gloom-

Something bumped his side and he almost had a heart attack, before seeing a flash of pale skin. Peter!

He grabbed hold of him and kicked up towards the surface. He'd later wonder how he managed it, for he wasn't a great swimmer, in fact he barely even knew how. He was just going on instinct and a desperate wish to rescue Peter. He got the life ring around his unconscious friend, wrapping the rope around his arm and trying to tow them closer to the legs of the pier.

He'd just got himself and Peter safely onto the worn rocks below the front struts when he seen a bolt of proton energy light up the sky and heard a howl of rage.

"Paul!" he gasped. He looked at his belt, was there anything- there!

He had a renewed prototype of a ghost bomb, similar to the one they'd used to blow closed the doorway to the boogeyman's realm. Egon had designed and Ray had built it. He'd designed it to withstand being slimed, which meant it was sealed well enough to withstand water too. Peter shivered and uttered a faint moan as Ray stood up.

Taking a deep breath, Ray began climbing the wooden strut, keeping his eyes on the top. His lungs burned and he could barely see straight amidst the storm but he kept going, one hand over the other. He reached the place where the boardwalk jutted just a few inches out over his head and pulled the grenade from his belt. He pressed in the switch, lobbing it as the light from Paul's latest attempt with the proton pack sizzled in the rain.

"RUN!" he screamed in the lull of thunderbolts.

Up top, the wraith turned, seeing something bounce onto the warped boards. It zoomed over, about to grab and toss it back overboard, but Peter's dad wasn't having it. He'd started running soon as he'd seen what was undeniably a grenade bounce to the floor, but on seeing the thing reaching to pick it up, he spun on his heel and fired again, clipping its head. It roared and automatically turned its attention to this threat instead. Paul grinned as he seen the grenade blink faster and faster-

He took off running, hoping this would work-

BOOM.

A blast of protonic light swelled out from the device, searing through the ghost like fire through tissue paper. It screamed and thrashed, howling its fury into the storm.

Ray had tried to get out of the way of the blast, but the edge of it still clipped him, knocking him off with the force of a punch to the gut.

He heard the ghost's screams, seen it growing smaller as he fell. He twisted in mid-tumble, unclipping and throwing the trap. It flew up, looping around the railing then coming to a stop. Ray held onto the release button, pressing it down with all the strength his numb fingers had.

The cable jerked to a halt, swinging him back and forth like a pendulum. Ray bit back a scream of pain as his right ankle slammed into the strut hard enough to jar his whole body. But he dimly heard the trap snap shut, then he couldn't hear the wraith any more.

"Ray!" Paul ditched the proton pack and ran over to the railing "Peter?!"

A glance down showed his son was safely out of the water, but Ray was hanging precariously from the chord of the trap.

"Get Peter!" Ray hollered, pointing to the place where the life ring was bolted to the railings. Peter's dad nodded, slowly hauling his unconscious son up to the boardwalk. He set him down, checked he was still breathing then ran to where the ghost trap still hung from the worn iron railings.

* * *

Finally, the second soaked-through Ghostbuster was out of harms way. But no sooner had Ray gotten back on solid ground, then he was scrambling over to kneel next to Peter.

"C'mon, wake up!" he pleaded, checking his pulse, worried it'd slowed. So he did the only thing he could think of, CPR. He could barely see straight from a mix of rain and his own frantic tears-

-Peter coughed, body spasming suddenly as he coughed up water, curling instinctively onto his side. He coughed and wheezed, shuddering from the cold that seemed to make up 90% of his bones. Opening his eyes, he seen a hand braced beside his head, wearing a waterlogged beige uniform...slowly, he raised his eyes, the familiar face of his beloved Raymond swimming into view.

"Ray…?" he coughed "What're you doing here?"

"Proving beyond a doubt you're worth saving." Ray said, tears of relief welling up, only to be washed away by the rain.

"You were supposed to run, you big goof." Peter said weakly, yet feeling grateful beyond words for Ray's presence.

"Nope." Ray grinned. Peter seized him by his collar and kissed him, the sensation bringing some feeling back to their numb lips.

Paul slumped back against an old lamppost as he seen his son start breathing properly and when he opened his eyes again just a few seconds later, it was in time to see Peter kiss Ray on the lips. It was a sweet scene, seeing how this young fella had done everything he could to save Peter.

"I'm so glad we found you." Ray said shakily as he helped Peter sit up.

"We?" Peter rubbed the back of his head "who's we-?" He glanced aside as he seen signs of movement and startled Ray by pushing to his feet so fast it knocked the red-head onto his rear.

"Oof!" Ray squeaked, shaking his head. What was wrong? "Peter?"

"Why is HE here?!" Peter snapped, his old anger resurfacing. He turned and started to stalk away on legs that felt like rubber "I said I was done and I meant it, c'mon Ray!"

Ray got to his feet, running after Peter. But once he grabbed hold of the back of Peters jumpsuit, he dug his heels in and brought them both to a halt.

"Ray? What're y-you doing?" now the shock was wearing off, Peter was starting to feel the cold. Ray shifted his weight, his ankle really hurt and he dimly recalled twisting it or something.

"P-please Peter," he said softly "I brought him so he c-could tell the t-truth."

"He's right, son." Paul could see Peter was still angry, despite being cold and in shock. "Ray here came to find me, he put two and two together and worked out that you'd bolted. He damn near knocked the door down to tear me a new one and he was right to, I know I've been the worst father, you've been left to yourself for so long..."

Peter hesitated, he'd never heard his dad sound do remorseful.

"I didn't think I ever had a chance at showing I care about you, kiddo. You'd never believe me, so I just figured if I could find a way to work with you, that'd be somethin'. Thats the story behind the ghost repellers..."

Ray sneezed, still holding tightly to Peter, afraid he might run..

"You want to know why I was here? The guy who runs the mall, the same one you boys were hired by, he's an old school friend. I called him up to ask for a job, a proper job. I have an interview tomorrow. I set off early to go see the place, but I got delayed and by the time I arrived here, you'd just gotten into the hotel."

"Y-you're serious?" Peter said. His father rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a letter, showing the schedule for the interview. Peter stared at it, seeing the rain soaking the paper, but it WAS real. He looked up at his father, seeing he looked genuine. But part of him still refused to get his hopes up and he turned away, shutting his eyes.

"I know it's not enough, but if it'll help, I'll tell Auriga to give you a call with a progress report. If I screw up, you can cut all ties. Just give me one more chance, Peter. I know you don't believe it after the way I raised you, but I do love you. Nothing makes me happier than to see you doing so well, working as a Ghostbuster. You've become the businessman your father never could be, crawled up from the bottom where I left us to grow into a hero."

Peter stared ahead, unsure what to believe. He believed that Ray had tried to drill some sense into his father, Ray was sweet like that, willing to do anything. He could feel Ray's hand resting on his back, imagined he could feel the pulse connecting them.

"I wasn't calling that reporter to blab about- ya know, you fellas. I figured it out some time ago, just haven't seen you since I did. You couldn't pick a nicer fella than this one. The reporter wanted to ask about that broad you boys pried outta the wall, he was some historical buff, so he said."

Peter sighed.

"Please….Peter?" Ray asked and Peter sighed.

"Ray, do you believe him?"

Ray looked from Peter to Paul Venkman. He seen how defeated and finally grounded the older Venkman seemed.

"I do, Peter." he said softly "I know we cant always be sure of what the future holds, but we gotta try. Family is, it's a big part of us. Give him one more chance.."

"If I mess it up, I won't blame you for cutting contact." Paul Venkman sat down on the waterlogged bench with a heavy sigh "I just hope its not too late. Ray here was right, blood's worth more than money. Shoulda been from the start.."

He paused, hearing Peter snicker. Then it sunk in, so to speak.

"I just sat in icy water, didn't I?"

Even Ray cracked a smile.

"Fine, dad." Peter sighed "but I'm serious- you pull one more scheme, I'm gone."

"I understand, son. It ain't gonna be easy, but an old dog can learn new tricks."

"L-let's go..." Ray coughed, making Peter turn to face him. He took in how shaken Ray looked and set off at once.

Paul Venkman ran behind them, somehow carrying the proton packs and trap. They ended up lasering the gates open in the end, all three of the too cold to climb it again.

* * *

Just as they stepped out, Ray limping pretty badly by now, the blinding lights of police cars flooded their vision. They shielded their eyes as the lights died down and the door to the first cruiser opened.

"What's going on- hay, aren't you the Ghostbusters?" the officer cut off mid-question with another.

"Y-yes, I'm Ray Stantz." Ray limped forward. "We got a call saying there was an out of control wraith loose in the park. We just barely took care of it!"

He held up the trap for emphasis, the light on it blinking steadily. The officer's eyes widened, he'd seen these fellas enough times on the TV to know Ray was telling the truth. Then he seen how Ray was refusing to put any weight on his ankle.

"Sir, what happened? Are you hurt?"

"I-i think I just sprained it." Ray said, but his efforts to take a step forward sent such pain through him that he collapsed to the ground. Peter ran to his side, helping him sit.

"This is cruiser 304, send an ambulance to the old theme park, we've got three very soaked individuals, one with a suspected broken bone."

He grabbed some blankets from the squad car and wrapped them around the two, Paul insisted he was fine, he'd gotten off easy!

* * *

"Ah-!" Ray flinched as he sat in the back of the ambulance, being poked and prodded by the paramedic.

"I hate to tell you, sir, but you've broken your ankle. You'll need to come to the hospital to get it set."

"O-oh dear..." Ray sneezed. Peter was coughing and shivering too, the cold had gotten to him fast.

As they arrived at the hospital, Peter asked his dad to call the Ghostbusters and tell Egon and co what'd happened.

* * *

"EGON!" Janine hollared, bringing the bespectacled scientist scurrying up from the basement.

"What is it Janine?" he asked, blinking as she held the phone out to him.

"Phone call for you."

"Oh, thank you. Hello, this is Egon?"

"Oh, thank goodness. This is Peter's father-"

"Dr. Venkman?" Egon asked "Where's Peter, why are YOU calling me?"

"There's been an incident, those two boys got hurt busting a ghost, real nasty piece of work it was!"

"What? Right…." Egon noted down the basics, promised they'd be there asap, and set the phone down.

"What happened?" Janine asked, grabbing Egon's hand before he ran off.

"It's Ray and Peter, they're in hospital after a bust went awry! Ray's broken his ankle and Peter's got mild hypothermia..."

"Oh dear, those poor boys." Janine clucked sympathetically "give them my best, wont you?"

"Of course." Egon paused to plant a kiss on her forehead before darting away and Janine chuckled, he was so sweet sometimes.

When Winston heard about it, he grabbed his coat and ran for Ecto-1 with Egon in tow. They drove as fast as they could, hoping the duo hadn't gotten too badly hurt.

* * *

Ray waved enthusiastically to them from his bed when Egon and Winston walked in.

"Hay Ray," Winston looked at the cast around Ray's ankle "you've certainly been in the wars, haven't you?"

"It was a wraith!" Ray said brightly, pointing at the trap on his locker. Egon took it and clipped it to his belt, he'd bring it back with him and dispose of it.

"Where's Peter?" Egon asked now.

Ray pointed out the door they'd come in, to another across the hall.

"He's there, but he's talking with his dad at the moment. I think things may finally be improving..."

"That's good to hear." Egon sat down next to the bed, Winston pulling up an extra chair beside him.

"So how'd it all go down?" he asked, and Ray grinned, telling them the whole story.

"Yikes, off a pier?!" Winston paled "you're either crazy or fearless Ray, or maybe both!"

"You don't know how to swim," Egon looked alarmed "how did you manage to pull you both to safety?"

"I think it was just instinct," Ray flushed "I couldn't let him die, you guys. Peter's dad managed to distract the ghost long enough for me to set off the grenade."

"Great work, Ray. We're glad you both made it." Egon smiled "Slimer and Janine send their regards, I believe Slimer's exact message was 'thbbbt'. Unsure of the significance."

Ray giggled at the sight of the stoic Egon blowing a raspberry. Good old Slimer!

At that moment, Paul Venkman exited his son's room. On seeing the door to Rays room open and two familiar faces visiting, he stuck his head in.

"Hey, boys!" he grinned.

"Paul!" Ray beamed "How did the interview go?"

"I nailed it, I start on monday!"

"That's excellent, I bet Peter's pleased." Ray clapped his hands and smiled.

Paul Venkman nodded "heh, yeah. First time I did something that didn't upset the boy. Makes a change!"

"Whats this job?" Egon asked, Paul grinned at him and Winston now.

"You're looking at the PR marketing rep for the Auriga mall. I get the chance to put my charms to good use for once."

"Heyy, nice one!" Winston nodded "you'll be a natural."

"Heh, thanks son."

"Winston is right, you have a natural talent for being talkative, just like Peter." Egon chuckled. "Peter's gotten us out of many a tight spot with that silver tongue of his."

This phrase brought back a memory to Ray of something else Peter did with his tongue. He bit his lip, forcing himself not to blush, but the downside was he ended up looking like he badly needed to laugh.

"What's the matter with him?" Paul asked, seeing Ray looking fit to bust. Ray uttered a loud snort, burst out laughing gleefully and couldn't stop for a good minute.

"Okayy...somebody's high on the painkillers. Ray's gone bye-bye." Winston rolled his eyes.

"S-sorry Winston..." Ray wiped his eyes "just feeling a little funny is all."

"Oh I'm sure my son can kiss it better once he's let loose from bed." Paul rolled his eyes, causing Winston and Egon to double-take at him and set Ray chuckling again.

"Yeah, long story." Paul Venkman winked at Ray as he left "One I wont be telling anybody, I promised!"

Then he was gone.

"Wow, this must've bene one heck of a weekend!" Winston said, while Egon tried to puzzle out how all this had happened. Figuring he'd give Spengler's brain a rest, Ray began telling them…

* * *

As soon as Ray could get out of bed and into a wheelchair, he scuttled across the hall to Peter's room.

"Hay, you." Peter smiled at him from his bed. He was hooked up to a warm intravenous drip and wrapped in thermal blankets. Luckily he hadn't been kept cold for long. On getting into the ambulance, the medics had taken one look at their soaked clothing and unceremoniously told both men to get out of those clothes, providing hospital shirts and trousers to replace them. They'd then been wrapped in blankets and given carefully warmed tea to aid the slow recovery of their regular body temperature. The uniforms and any attached equipment had been put in storage until the two were well enough.

"We were lucky.." Ray said softly, "we didn't get too sick."

"Yeah, I know. If those cops hadn't shown up, we probably would've been worse off. The doc said hypothermia can get REAL nasty."

"Yeah," Ray said with a smile "Your dad popped in, told us the good news."

Peter smiled "I gotta admit, I'm pretty impressed. Here's hoping he can stick with it."

Ray scooted as close as he could, grasping Peter's hand gently. Peter smiled, tired eyes taking in his cute little lover.

"My Raymond." he said softly, making Ray blush as he squeezed his hand.

Ray felt his heart speed up, the warmth of Peter's skin a relief as he reflected on how cold the mans body had been when Ray had pulled him out of the water.

"You saved me, Ray." Peter said gently, drawing Ray's attention back to him. Peter's serious expression made Ray pause as he opened his mouth to modestly deny the praise.

"I don't just mean from the wraith, Raymond. I was at my worst when I fled the hotel, I'd given up and thought that running away would forever be my only option. But you made my father see what he'd ignored for years and what I'd given up trying to achieve."

"I just wanted you- us, to be happy." Ray blushed, staring at his hands as he picked at the cast on his ankle. Peters hand lifted his chin, making the red-head sit up properly.

"You better believe that cute rear of yours, I am!" Peter grinned, making Ray blush as he made a crude but affectionate mime with his hands. Ray burst out laughing, resting his head on the side of the bed as he giggled helplessly.

"OH dear, I may have overdone it." Peter rubbed his chin, eyebrows raising as Ray's laughter continued.

"Can ya breathe down there?" He asked at last, ruffling Ray's hair. Ray sat back at last, wiping his eyes and grinning at Peter. The sight of his happy smile made Peter's heart ache in the best way.

Ray was just trying to figure a way to get out of the wheelchair so that he could kiss Peter, when the door opened and they both glanced at the door.

"Oh, there you are, mister Stantz." The doctor checked his clipboard "I apologise for interrupting your conversation, but I need to run more x-rays on your ankle."

"Of course." Ray said, wincing as he awkwardly manoeuvred the wheelchair to follow the doctor.

Peter bid him goodbye, sighing softly as he was left alone again. He'd so been hoping for a kiss…

* * *

A few more days of brief moments together, during which they couldn't do much more than talk, then the duo were finally released. Both Ray and Peter had been fortunate in that the side-effects of the dunk in the cold water hadn't had time to affect them seriously. Peter was left with a bit of a mild cough, but otherwise fine. Ray's ankle would take time to heal, but he was fairly healthy otherwise. The doctors recommended both gentlemen to take some time before returning to work.

The others dropped by in Ecto-1 to collect them, an act that caused a stir, as the children's ward looked out into the parking lot. Seeing the kids pressing their faces to the windows to get a look, the quartet waved up at them. Ray seen one little boy in crutches much like his own and spared a moment to give him a buoyant smile. The kid beamed, feeling a little less alone as one of the Ghostbusters shared the same trouble.

Ray settled into the plush softness of the seats as they drove back. On his lap was a set of crutches, which he wasn't too great with, but the firehouse wasn't set up for a wheelchair.

* * *

Getting out of the car, he nearly fell on his face, had Egon not grabbed his arm and steadied him.

"Take it slow." was his recommendation and Ray duly nodded. Taking a deep breath, he stumbled onwards. Focusing intently on setting one crutch in front of the other. As he stumbled in the door, Slimer rushed him in a relieved hug. Ray wobbled, falling back to be braced by Peter's arms, his back pressing against Venkman's chest.

"Oopsie.." Slimer burbled, seeing the cast.

"It's alright, Slimer." Rays aid, seeing the ghost looking bummed out "Just gotta go easy on the hugs for a while, okay?"

"You OK Ray?" Peter asked, but because his chin was resting on the curve of Rays shoulder, the sensation made Ray squirm and start laughing. This made Rays balance veer off again and Peter had to quickly wrap his arms around Ray's middle to save him from falling over.

"He still on the meds?" Egon mused, watching this surprisingly intimate interaction.

"Naw," Janine rolled her eyes good naturedly "just ticklish. Like this!"

She snuck behind Egon and ran a perfectly manicured nail up his back. A shiver raced up the doctors back and he yelped, tensing up a moment.

"See?" Janine stood next to him and slipped a subtle wink when Winston was busy rolling his eyes at the romantic shenanigans going on around him. Egon felt his face flush, but got himself under control by the time Ray was standing on his crutches again, although Peter remained nearby just in case.

"I'm starving!" Ray declared, setting his sights on the stairs, then he paused "Uhhh...you fellas go up ahead, it's gonna take a minute to get used to these things."

They all did as the flustered Ray asked, well, most of them did. Peter stopped midway up, snapping his fingers and turning back to Ray.

"Hay, I completely forgot, we gotta sign that cast! It's tradition, right?"

Ray, feeling panic at his restricted mobility starting to claw as his muscles ached. He was only at the first landing and already his arms hurt, but he was pulled away from the edge of panic by Peter's question.

"Thats right.." he chuckled, "it'd brighten it up!"

Peter grinned, leaning back against the railings as Ray reached the point where he stood on the steps, the grin on his face suggesting all manner of lewd ideas.

"Not THAT." Ray said sternly, making Peter put a hand on his chest, batting his eyelashes innocently at Ray.

"Me, rude? Why, I'd be insulted- but I'm not fooling anyone!" he winked at Ray, bounding ahead the last few steps before Ray could scold him. Ray shook his head, feeling a little better and this was enough to get him the rest of the way up the stairs.

Winston watched this with curiosity, noting the easygoing way Peter found an excuse to hover nearby on the stairs, yet not directly make Ray feel imposed.

Ray sat himself on the couch at Egon's suggestion, sighing sadly.

"Are you in pain?" Egon asked as he handed Ray a mug of coffee.

"No, Egon, I'm fine." Ray said, watching the ripples in the cup as he held it.

"That doesn't seem to have any evidence to back it up, rather, I postulate my theory is correct. That being that something is bothering you." Egon watched him, a mild frown on his face.

"I just hate the idea of sitting on my rear-end for weeks while this heals!" Ray glowered at the cast "I cant stand the idea of being useless."

"You're not useless, Ray." Winston joined Egon on the couch beside their friend. Peter perched on the arm of the couch, looking worriedly at Ray.

"Winston is correct, you'll be able to access the lab. It just so happens that I have some upgrade plans for the car, it'd be appreciated if you could go over them, Ray, as you know the vehicle best." Egon stated, making Ray's eyes brighten a little. He doted on Ecto-1 like it was his baby, so Egon's proposal was just the ticket.

"See?" Peter patted Ray's back gently "you'll be busy with that, then soon you'll be back to busting ghosts and kicking ass!"

Slimer came over with a pen, gesturing to Ray's cast and babbling hopefully. Ray nodded, feeling better now he was back home and surrounded by his friends.

Once Slimer was done, he tossed the pen to Peter, who refrained from anything crude and just wrote a cheeky joke he knew would get a giggle. Egon, Winston and Janine followed suit, each doing their own little section with something they thought the cast's wearer would smile at.

"Thanks guys." Ray beamed at his far more colourful cast (there was even a bit of ectoplasmic slime in the shape of a handprint, thanks to Slimer.).

* * *

The rest of that evening he was resting against Peter's side as they watched a movie, occasionally fidgeting as his legs and back cramped.

"Ray, whatta you trying to do exactly? Aside from climb all over Peter?" Winston asked, shaking his head at the way Ray was squirming.

"For the record, I'm totally not objecting." Peter somehow said with a straight face, making Ray turn red as he finally settled himself so his back was propped up against Peter's shoulder.

"Sorry," he said, blushing even more at his awkwardness "I didn't realise how cumbersome this thing could be!"

He glowered at his cast as he did, sighing crossly.

"Ah, don't worry." Peter shrugged "you'll get used to it, then by the time you do, it'll be time to remove it!"

"That is an accurate timescale for a cast." Egon mused "I broke my arm when I was younger and I couldn't stand the cast, just about drove my mother crazy. That was when I tried to do some experiments to ease my boredom, but wound up setting fire to the garage instead."

"Seriously?" Ray looked across at Egon "what did your parents say?"

"They went nuclear." Egon sighed "I was grounded for months!"

"Hee hee, Egon's a closet arsonist!" Peter teased.

"It was ONE time!" Egon said with a huff, hearing Janine chuckle beside him.

Towards the end of the movie, Peter felt the need to stretch and arced his back, arms stretched above his head. The motion disturbed Ray, who was still leaning against him and the startled red-head yelped as he fell backwards and as a result landed across Peter's lap.

"Oh, hey!" Peter looked down at him, arms still in the air "forgot you were leanin' on me, sorry."

Ray went red, this was a rather _intimate_ position to land in. "M-mind helping me up?" He coughed.

Peter chuckled, helping Ray sit up back up again.

To their credit, the others didn't poke fun, just shared "aint that sweet" grins, particularly Winston and Janine. Slimer clapped his hands, making cooing noises. Peter blew a raspberry at him, with a smug expression that made Ray chuckle. He admired Peter's fearlessness, the guy didn't seem to give a damn.

Secretly though, Peter felt his heart thud rapidly whenever he was able to share these little moments with Ray. He didn't want to annoy the other two with the displays of affection, but Ray was impossible to leave completely alone, so he toned his attentions down as far as he could bear.

* * *

He helped Ray get up the winding stairs to the bedroom, watching as Ray set the crutches by the side of his bed with a sigh. Poor Ray, he didn't much like being so confined, not a fella like him that had so much energy.

* * *

The next morning, Peter stirred before the others and glanced across at Ray. The other man was sat on the edge of his bed, staring glumly at the crutches. Peter got up and crept over, sitting next to Ray atop the bed.

"Hay Peter." Ray sighed, chin resting on his hands. Peter slipped an arm around his middle, kissing him on the forehead softly.

"Whats wrong, champ?" he asked softly.

"I just feel restless." Ray said with a huff "I wanna move around, but my leg..."

"I know, it sucks." Peter tilted the mopey Ghostbusters chin up so he could plant a kiss on his lips, murmuring "it'll be over before you know it. Hey, why don't I carry you down to breakfast?"

"Pe-mmhh..." Ray was silenced by another kiss as Peter silently scooped him up and carried him downstairs to the kitchen, where he sat him down in a chair, then offered to make breakfast.

The fire alarm was what woke Egon and Winston up, sending them careening down the stairs to see-

Peter looking a bit sheepish, holding a smoking saucepan at arms length while Ray fidgeted in his seat, looking around for some way to shut off the alarm. Egon walked over and opened the window, eventually silencing the shrill bleeping.

"What were you trying to do, exactly?" he questioned Peter, who scratched his cheek and coughed.

"Breakfast?" he said innocently. Egon rolled his eyes and took over, with Winston's help. Peter sat next to Ray and they shared a small smile. So much for a special breakfast!

"I think I'll leave the pancakes to you in future." Peter chuckled to Ray as Egon set the plates down before them.

"I can teach you, it's not that tricky." Ray said with a smile, which made Peter feel a bit better after the mishap. Ray tucked into the food with gusto, his appetite was back to its usual self, to everyone's relief. Peter was the same, scarfing his food and grinning at Egon, applauding the food.

"Cooking is just a matter of using the correct formula." Egon said primly, making Peter roll his eyes. But Egon's face held the trace of a smile, the obvious giveaway Peter's teasing hadn't bothered the physicist.

As the others got up to answer the bell, Ray tried tried to stand, only to realise he didn't have his crutches.

"Ah..." he sighed, making Egon pause to glance at him.

"Something wrong Ray?" he asked, puzzled.

"I uh….left my crutches upstairs." Ray said, grinning guiltily.

"Then how did you get down the stairs?" Egon was genuinely puzzled, wouldn't that stress his injuries?

There was the sound of Winston and Peter face-palming, and the sight of Ray going red and squeaking. Egon shrugged and jogged upstairs to get them anyway.

"Wonderfully clueless, isn't he?" Peter wiped his eyes, giggling merrily.

"Just a tad." Winston admitted "for a genius, he's very innocent."

Egon ignored his snickering coworkers as he handed Ray his crutches. Ray thanked him, getting unsteadily to his feet and waving to the others as they left. Then he hobbled along to his office, where Egon had said he'd left the plans.

The days passed, with Ray spending most of his time on the same floor as his ffice, hobbling awkwardly here and there to check Ecto-1 or eat dinner on the couch. Peter and the others all aided him when possible, not taking Ray's apologies for a refusal.

* * *

"Sorry." Ray sighed for the 15th time, this time to Egon as the blonde helped him reach the top floor, Ray's arm looped over his shoulders.

"You do not need to constantly apologise, Ray." Egon said calmly as he guided Ray over to his bed and sat him down, standing back up once he was sure Ray was safely settled.

"I know, but-"

"The is no requirement for these "Butts" you mention so frequently." Egon said sternly.

"I heard the word butt, what'd I miss?" Peter out of nowhere poked his head up from the lower rungs of the stairs. Egon sighed, turning to glower at him.

"Nothing intellectual, I can assure you." he sighed, while Ray chuckled. Peter winked at his partner, before disappearing back downstairs. His footsteps could be heard tapping across the floorboards, then there was the sound of him vaulting the couch in typical fashion.

"Wait," Egon scratched his head "did he seriously come all that way just to investigate my usage of a word referencing the human rear end?"

"Yup." Ray said, muffling his laughter with one hand.

Egon shrugged and shook his head, but the obvious smile on Ray's face said it all. Those two were content together.

"It's fascinating," Egon mused as he studied Ray "you two seem to have a low percentage of embarrassment about displays of affection. It's admirable."

Ray regarded the stern doctor, seeing a trace of wistfulness in Egon's carefully constructed facade. He was thinking about Janine, Ray knew it.

"Peters the fearless one," he blushed "he instigates it, I always freeze up and worry im bothering the rest of you."

"As if it might be mistaken for being boastful.." Egon added, making Ray nod. The two shared looks, smiling faintly at how they were both the more introverted side of their respective relationships.

"I guess we'll just have to learn by example." Ray theorised, smiling warmly "If Peter's got no qualms about getting comfortable, maybe I shouldn't be so tense."

-Perhaps that is the answer?- Egon mused. Janine more often than not hugged HIM to begin with and he was still a little slow to respond. He just wasn't used to displaying such affection.

"Not as easy as it seems, huh?" Ray confided, making Egon nod. But they both felt a little better after getting that off their chest.

Winston and Peter came upstairs shortly after, Peter pausing to smile at Ray before making his way to his own bed. He missed the feel of Ray's body next to his, wished he could sleep in the same bed as his lover.

Across the room, Ray wanted the same, the absence of Peter's body on his was like a physical ache.

Winston noticed the glances between them as he got into bed, seen Peter sigh softly before throwing the covers over his head.

* * *

The next day he pulled Egon aside and said the two of them would be taking a trip out to the parts store that afternoon, work pending.

"What for?" Egon asked "I don't need anything."

"No, but they do-" Winston poked the doctor's cheek so his gaze settled on the way Peter and Ray were sitting together at the kitchen table. They were speaking softly, sitting as close as they could, taking every moment they could spare. In another subtle gesture, Peter's thumb was tracing back and forth across Ray's wrist.

"Ah." Egon said simply.

"Good, you're on the right track, my man." Winston said quietly "We'll need to distract Janine too, even Slimer."

"Why Slimer? Oh, right, of course. It isn't going to enhance any romantic intentions if Slimer intrudes." Egon put it together faster than Wisnton usually seen from him. The guy was still too logical to assume any innuendos in that sentence, but it was progress.

"It should be safe enough, Ray won't be straining his ankle if he and Peter spend some time alone." Egon added, nodding as he felt he understood the idea. Winston bit his lip and tried SO hard not to laugh, just about succeeding. Egon heard him, however and gave him a funny look.

"Why do you keep doing that around me?" he asked, feeling himself flush unexpectedly. What was he missing?

"I'll explain later." Winston patted Egon on the back as he walked over to the table to join the others.

Janine copped on right away and told Egon she'd like to join them on their shopping. Egon looked puzzled, but the idea of having Janine with them did make him smile, so it was a plan.

* * *

As they left, Janine put a "gone to lunch" sign on the door and had already set the answering machine.

Ray was in his office when Peter emerged from the shower, neatly dressed in jeans and a sleeveless shirt. He looked around, calling for the others. No answer, just a note stuck to the phone with a time scribbled on it.

He heard Ray's voice from his office, asking was everything alright? Peter drifted in, setting down atop the desk facing his precious Ghostbuster.

Ray let his eyes slide over Peter's well-toned shoulders, along the curve of his collarbone-

"Like what you see?" Peter seen him staring and teasingly leaned in close to Ray, brushing his fingers up the man's thigh.

Ray felt his face flush hotly, but there was no denying it.

"You know I do," he said softly, going even redder. Geez, he had to have sounded awkward. How did Peter flirt so effortlessly?

But Peter looked pleased at the compliment, kissing Ray deeply as reward.

"Never change, Ray," he said softly "I love the way you're so adorable."

He felt Ray's hands tangle in his hair as they kissed, heard him sigh longingly. So he picked him up out of the chair, balancing Ray against his chest as he set off for the bedroom.

"P-peter?" Ray stammered, hands linked at Venkman's neck "what about Egon and the others?"

"All gone, I think they went for a little trip, to give us a bit of space. Why else would even Spud be absent from the premises?"

Ray felt his pulse race at the meaning of the gesture. He HAD missed Peter so very much.

Peter lay Ray down atop the red-head's bed, kissing him several times as he ran his hands over Ray's chest and sides. At last, he moved onto unbuttoning Ray's shirt, kissing the spot over his heart, relishing in the scent of his skin as he began undressing him.

He took a moment to prop pillows under Ray's cast, so their lovemaking wouldn't put strain on his body and soon the cast was the only thing his precious Raymond wore.

Peter took a moment to sit back and admire the man beneath him and Ray blushed at the way Peter regarded him, as if he was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"I waited way too long to say this." Peter kissed Ray, nipped at his neck and whispered three sweet words in his ear. The same words Ray had uttered that day they'd made love by the containment unit.

Ray wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders, feeling happier then he had in some time. Peter took his sweet time, finding the places on Ray's body that made the Ghostbuster squirm in pleasure atop the formerly pristine sheets.

By the time the main act began, Ray was in a state of blissful pleasure, body tingling from head to toe. Peter's kisses sent lightning bolts up his spine and he uttered a soft gasp as Peter released him so he could begin.

"I don't know if I ever made it clear enough;" Peter whispered as he nuzzled Ray's nose "but what you did for me at the pier, saving my life and persuading me to give my father a chance? I promise someday I'll find a way to repay your generosity, my sweet Raymond. For now, let me give you everything I have…."

Knowing they were alone meant they didn't have to hold back, their gasps and cries of passion filling the bedroom. When they'd first slept together, Peter had told Ray to hold onto him if he felt like he was being swept away. Ray clung tightly to Peter's body now, its warmth like a life raft. All the days apart in the hospital and at the firehouse made this uninterrupted time together all the more vital.

He felt lightheaded for several seconds after the finale, burying his face in Peter's sweat-dampened hair, the soft strands tickling his face.

"Oh, how I missed you." Peter whispered in his ear, making Ray smile and nibble languidly on Peter's earlobe.

"Me too." he said huskily, making Peter grin in that shag-happy way of his.

They eventually parted, with Peter carrying Ray to the bathroom. He supported the other Ghostbuster as they showered, making sure the cast didn't get wet (his excuse anyway.)

* * *

Once they were dressed they settled on the couch together, feeling content and happy.

For just a couple of hours, the world had belonged to them alone, they'd found time to reconnect after the trauma of the wraith at the pier. Looking at his sweet Raymond as he chuckled at the TV show in progress, Peter felt for certain that he deserved the affections of this gentle natured man.

He surprised Ray by blocking his view of the TV and kissing him. Ray smiled, kissing him back and the TV was quickly forgotten as they indulged some very passionate kissing, determined to make the most of their time before their friends returned and life carried on as normal.

* * *

"Home at last." Egon said briskly as Ecto-1 pulled into the parking bay. He sprung out of the car, holding a box of parts in his arms. Despite his insistence that he didn't need new parts, the shop had gotten a restock just that morning so Janine and Winston ended up having to pry him away in the end. As Egon had been packing the last bag at the till, his friends waiting by the door, the cashier had leaned in confidentially.

"Your girl there's a charmer. You're lucky doc."

Egon had blinked, before a soft smile graced his features and he nodded.

"Indeed I am, she's very special." He'd said decisively, before bidding the man farewell and heading to his friend and...well, were they technically boyfriend and girlfriend?

This question had slipped his mind as Janine tucked her arm through his, the light shining off her hair as the trio headed for the car.

Now, he glanced back as he ascended the stairs, seeing her smile at him. Behind her, Winston raised his eyebrows in "you got this." sort of way, which made Egon feel a little braver. Thus, he waited for Janine to catch up and they walked side by side up the rest of the way.

"Petey! Ray!" Slimer shot by all of them, zooming over to where Ray and Peter were cosied up on the couch. Both men yelped, startled by the green ghosts enthusiasm.

"Miss us?" Winston joked as he walked past them into the kitchen.

Peter grinned by way of response, and Janine could see the happiness radiating from Venkman. His body language was so different to his usual aloofness, somehow Ray had gotten through to him in a way nobody else could. Judging by the way Ray looked at Peter, he'd seen the same thing. Their eyes met and she flashed Ray a smile.


	4. Coming Home For Christmas

As Christmas approached, the Ghostbusting lovers grew closer still. Peter seemed less cynical then he'd once been, at least to his friends anyway. On TV he still acted like a smug, self-assured guy, but Ray knew the real Venkman and knew what it was to see him truly smile.

As for Peter? After the pier incident, he decided that Ray deserved the best of him and only needed to see Ray smile to recall how much the red-head's belief in him had aided him. Without Ray's help that wild and stormy weekend at the coast, Peter would've never reconnected with his estranged father nor would he likely have survived the encounter with the wraith. But Ray had refused to abandon him, searching high and low until he and Peter's father had found him in the abandoned amusement park.

Speaking of his father…

* * *

Peter looked up from his game of chess with Egon (no prizes as to who was winning), as Janine brought a letter to him.

"Who's it from?" Ray asked, scooting out from where he'd been under Ecto-1, fixing a leak in one of the brake lines. His broken ankle had long since healed and he was back to his usual energetic self.

"It's from my dad!" Peter blinked, surprised to feel cautious hope as opposed to his former agitation. Ray got up and wandered over, cleaning his oily hands on a rag as he perched on the table behind Peter.

Peter opened the letter, skimming over it, his lips moving softly as he read. Ray was soon distracted from the letters contents by a sudden urge to still those lips with a kiss…

He spaced out completely at that point, so when Peter turned to look at him, Ray had the dopiest grin on his face.

"Rayyyy?" Peter waved a hand in his face, startling him "you listening to me?"

"Huh, what?" Ray snapped out of his daze, blinking at Peter. Venkman arched an eyebrow and Ray blushed profusely, knowing he'd been busted. Janine smiled faintly and Egon just looked nonplussed.

"What was I just saying, Ray?" Peter leaned forward in his chair, peering mock-sternly up at Ray as he fidgeted.

"Uhh..your dad wants you to visit?" Ray guessed, with a sheepish shrug of his broad shoulders and was rewarded with seeing Peter blinking in surprise.

"Lucky guess." Peter chided with a wry smile, then looked at the others. Ray uttered a soundless sigh of relief that made Janine catch his eye and wink knowingly.

"Psychic Raymond here is right, Dad wants to see me before christmas. Mind if I take a day or three off, Egon?"

"Well, christmas is hit and miss with ghosts, so I don't see why not." Egon said with a nod.

"You visiting your folks too, Ray?" Winston asked the red-head and Ray nodded, saying he'd be going to see his aunt Lois, she always held a big party this time of year.

Egon couldn't help feel a little excited, he was meeting some of Janine's family for dinner that night and apaprently they were eager to meet _him_! He'd flat out asked Janine if this was official and she'd put her arms around him and asked "do you want it to be, Egon?"

The answer had been a resounding YUP.

And a kiss.

* * *

And so a few days later, Peter prepared to journey back up to the same town that he and Ray had saved from a wraith. His father worked for the same guy who'd hired the duo to get rid of a ghostly maiden in his mall, an old school friend it turned out.

Now Paul Venkman worked in the PR department and according to his letters, things were going pretty damn good!

Ray had given Peter some gifts from himself and the other Ghostbustes, for Peter's dad. Paul had mentioned during their last phone call that he hoped Peter would bring Ray with him on one of his visits, he was very fond of the fella. In a funny way, Peter was glad his father wasn't fazed by his choice of partner…

Now, sat on the train with his chin resting on one hand, he stared at the scenery rushing past.

He flashed back to the farewell kiss with Ray at HQ, shortly before he'd hopped on a bus to the train station. He'd breathed in the scent of Ray's freshly washed skin, the softness of his hair and the lingering sweetness of his lips as they'd parted. Those memories would tide him over until he was back and able to hold the real deal in his arms.

—If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be in a relationship with one of my best friends, or that he'd end up saving my life both literally and figuratively? I'd have called you crazy.—

He smiled, still amazed at how much Ray had changed how he seen himself for the better.

Right then, he became aware of eyes on him and turned to see two boys, a teen and a younger kid, standing in the aisle by his seat.

"Whoaa….." the little one was staring openly at Peter, star struck "you're Peter Venkman, aren't you? Are you here to bust a ghost? Is there one on this train? Is it scary?"

"Sorry," the older kid said, stopping the outpouring of questions from his sibling "we're both Ghostbusters fans and he really wanted to say hi before mom gets here."

"Hey, no problem kids." Peter flashed them a trademark grin "dang right I'm THAT Venkman, what can I do for ya?"

The little boy fidgeted shyly and finally proffered a well-read magazine, featuring a cover story about the Ghostbusters.

Peter asked did he want him to sign it and the kid nodded, squeezing his brother's hand nervously. But he soon came out of his shell as Peter talked cheerily about that interview as he wrote, little anecdotes about his co-workers and Slimer.

* * *

The kids' mother was surprised when she returned from the food cart and seen her sons eagerly chatting to a tall brunette that she recognised as she got closer.

"Oh, hello!" Peter gave her a smile "hope you don't mind I was just conducting an interview with some junior reporters here?"

"It's quite alright Doctor Venkman," she sighed at her boys "I hope they're not bothering you?"

"Nah, it's much more fun then just making faces at my reflection the whole trip!" Peter assured her, making the kids giggle. He winked knowingly at them, making them grin back.

"Hay, what're you a doctor of?" the older boy asked "three of you are doctors, aren't you?"

"Indeed. We're all PhDs in parapsychology, aka _studying the spooky_. Ray is a dab hand at metallurgy as well as engineering. He can fix machines like you wouldn't believe and has a very sizeable coin collection!"

The kids nodded, caught up in this unknown information.

"Egon? The guy's a flat-out genius, physicist and the guy behind the proton packs and containment units, with Ray's help. Winston came to us during our early days, he was looking for a job and we hired him soon as we met him. You want the voice of common sense, he's your guy."

"What do you do?" the younger boy asked.

"Alongside studying spooks, I'm a psychologist. That basically means I can see what people are feeling and study it. Like a doctor, but for the mind!"

"Cool!" the kids chimed and the mother gave Venkman a fond smile, the guy was quite different from the persona she'd seen on the TV. She had to admit she was pleasantly surprised.

The boys spent the rest of the train journey chatting with dr Venkman and when they got off a few stops before him, Peter waved to them as the train left.

On the platform, the kid hugged the magazine and grinned, this was the best day ever!

Peter smiled, he was looking forward to seeing his father, not something he'd ever thought he'd do. But, thanks to Ray, it was happening…

* * *

He hopped off the train as he finally reached his station, suitcase in hand and barely had he had time to look around, then;

"Peter, my boy!"

He turned at the sound of his fathers exuberant voice. He felt himself smile without hesitation as they shared a rarely seen hug. Letting him go, Paul Venkman looked at his six-foot-something son.

"I still maintain you're part giraffe." he snorted "that or someone on your Mother's side was insanely tall!"

"Comes in handy at a basketball court!" Peter said with a grin and they set off towards where Paul said he'd parked the car. Several people turned to stare, recognising Peter even without his uniform and pack. Peter tuned them out, intent on actually listening to his dad, it really was amazing how things between them had changed.

* * *

As they drove towards the apartment he was renting, Paul couldn't resist grilling his son about Ray;

"So, how's that fella of yours? Still going steady, are ya?"

"Dad, no one says that any more, trust me. But yeah, we're good. Ray still gets all shy when I make a fuss of him, Janine thinks it's the cutest thing ever."

"Ah, I remember her. Lovely woman, very attractive. How is she not taken already?"

"Funny you mention that. She and Egon finally quit dancing around the issue, so it's as official as you can get. Poor Winston, the guys surrounded by romantic stuff...truthfully I don't think it bothers him, though. He's pretty laid back like that."

Paul smiled, it was good to see his son so enthusiastic and upbeat. When he'd run into him last time, Peter had been locked up tight in his protective shell and the only one capable of making a dent at that time was Ray Stantz, who'd gone against all odds to persuade the Venkmans' to give thier relationship one more try.

* * *

Over dinner, Peter briefly mentioned his work and how the other Ghostbusters were doing.

"How's the mall doing?"

"Ah, it's doing grand. Had a bit of a hiccup though, just last month, with one of our investors."

"Really, what happened?"

Paul sighed and shook his head "real sad story. One of the company heads, guy named Landon Brooks-"

Peter almost choked on his coffee, coughing and gasping.

"You alright, Peter?!" Paul leaned across the table and patted his son's back.

"I'm fine, drink went down the wrong way, that's all! Now, what were you saying?"

Peter wiped his eyes as they stung, his heart hammering at his chest. The Landon his father mentioned was the same guy who'd kidnapped Peter and tried to run Ray over. Simply put? The guy was a loon.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, this Landon guy. I don't know exactly what went on, but I think he kidnapped somebody?"

"Wow, what an ass." Peter said stiffly, but Paul didn't notice.

"His brother was as surprised as everyone else was, he came out of early retirement to resume controlling the company. He's in talks with Auriga to help fix the damage his brother did. I feel for the guy, after all, family can be tricky."

Peter managed a smile at his dad, knowing what he referred to. But his stomach still shifted uneasily, that guy's brother was here?

He flashed back to the trial and shuddered softly. That'd been awkward, but thankfully short. Possibly at his brother's lawyers insistence, Landon had pled guilty to kidnapping and attempted manslaughter. The evidence had all pointed to Landon being fanatically obsessed with having his idol to himself, having stalked Peter for weeks before the abduction, eventually leading him to have a mental break and kidnap Peter.

-Theres no chance you'll run into him. Relax, Peter.- he told himself, pushing the matter aside for now.

Paul seen his son was tense and said nothing for the moment, but as the car idled at a traffic light he seen Peter was gnawing uneasily at his bottom lip.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" He asked. Peter jolted in his seat, blinking wide-eyed at him.

"I know something I said has gotten you all frantic. It's about that case I mentioned, isn't it?"

Peter hesitated a moment, the nodded once. But he couldn't speak..

Paul nodded, thinking of the most likely reason. It had to be something personal for Peter to be this reluctant to talk about it. The case had been about Landon Brooks kidnapping someone, the name was kept a secret even from the press.

The penny dropped and he glanced at his son as he drove. Seeing the realisation in his father's face, Peter slid down in his seat, unease prickling over his skin.

"Ah geez, kiddo. I'm sorry I brought it up at dinner, it was you wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Peter croaked at last "he tried to kill Ray too. He'd seen us when he was stalking me and became insanely jealous over our relationship. Ray was..."

He broke off, hands clenched as he recalled the misery Ray had endured.

"Ray was hit pretty hard by it. That's when I finally told the others the whole story, Ray deserved that much. That Landon guy? He was an asshole."

"So I see." Paul let out a low whistle as he thought about it "I don't blame either of you for feeling uncomfortable. But hey, at least you boys didn't need to sneak around after that, huh?"

"Yup, turns out Janine had seen right through our attempts at secrecy and the other guys didn't really mind. Egon said it made no difference to either of us being his friends and Winston backed him up."

"Ah, you got some tried and true friends there. Good thing ta have." Paul nodded, seeing Peter cheer up as he ruminated on this. A smile slowly replaced the stressed frown and by the time they reached the apartment, the younger Venkman was back to his usual wisecracking self.

* * *

Peter was staying at his father's apartment, sleeping in the spare bedroom. As he finished unpacking his main suitcase, he found a sealed plastic container tucked down at the bottom. Blinking, he opened it and found some homemade cookies with a note attached from Ray.

"Aw, you big sweetie." Peter grinned, scarfing two in rapid succession. Ray really was a good cook, he was impressed!

He slipped out of the room and asked his dad if he minded Peter using the phone?

"Calling your fella, eh?" Paul Venkman winked, making his son face-palm.

"Yesss..." he hissed as his face went red, ignoring his father's snickering as he dialled.

"Ray?" his face lit up as he heard his lover's voice "Hey, got your note."

"Yeah, they're delicious. Weathers pretty calm, ass-freezingly cold but its winter, go figure, hey?"

"Yes, I'll wrap up warm. I don't wanna get hypothermia again. How's everything at HQ? Any luck with keeping the Spud out of the fridge?"

Paul got up to go get a drink, leaning in towards Peter and calling;

"Hello, Peter's fella!" He whooped, then ran off snickering as Peter tried to swat him with a phone book.

* * *

On the other end of the phone, Janine muffled a giggle from beside the coffee machine as Ray held the phone away from his face, eyeing it in bemusement. Shaking his head, the red-head put it back up to his ear and resumed talking.

"Don't worry about it, Peter. Heh..."

He nodded and smiled, chuckling at something Peter said.

"I miss you too." Ray said, blushing as Janine grinned at him and drifted away upstairs for a moment "when are you coming back? Christmas Eve? Ok, I'll meet you at the station. Six? Got it."

They exchanged a few more words, then they hung up.

* * *

"Aw, you don't have to stop there, I'm sure the extension will reach all the way to your room!"

Peter shook his head at his dad as he returned.

"Could we try _NOT_ to make poor Ray explode from embarrassment, dad? Ive become rather attached to him and would prefer he not vaporise."

"One of my many missed duties when you were younger was poking fun at you for dating someone adorable. I feel I accomplished the task quite sufficiently!"

Peter face-palmed "that's true...dangit."

His father chuckled, making Peter roll his eyes and shake his head. Thinking about it, this man was clearly where his own sarcastic streak originated from…

* * *

The next day they were booked to have lunch with Mr Auriga, the guy who owned the mall Peter and Ray had cleared of a ghost, as well as being the guy who offered Paul Venkman a second chance at a fresh start. They got there a little early, riding the elevator up to the very top floor.

By chance, Auriga was just exiting the bathroom and spotted them as they stepped out of the elevator. He beamed at the two men, striding over to meet them. Peter shook the proffered hand, offering his trademark grin.

"Ah, It's good to see you again, dr Venkman. The mall's been quiet and peaceful ever since you laid that poor girl's ghost to rest. After doing some research once you and your coworker had left, I put a plaque up in the lobby so her family name wont be forgotten."

"That's good to know, the poor woman had a rough time being knocked off by her own brother." Peter shook his head and sighed.

They talked a few minutes more in the entranceway, with Peter cheerfully answering Auriga's questions about how the rest of his team were doing. Yes, Ray had eventually gotten all the plaster dust out of his hair…

"Feel free to take a tour of the mall Drs, I have one last meeting to finish up before I can join you. We've opened many new shops since your last stay, Peter."

* * *

One of said stores, Peter found out, was a record store. His father listened in curiosity as Peter told the story about Shanna, the Irish banshee singer who'd very nearly enslaved the world via concert broadcast. Also how he'd nearly been offered a contract in show-business, but decided it wasn't for him.

"You? Turn down fame?" Paul teased his son, elbowing his side jokily "were ya feelin' well?"

"Ha ha, dad." Peter snickered "seriously though, not only do I LIKE my current job, someone whose name begins with 'R' would be forced to put up with the fangirls."

Paul chuckled, nodding as he and Peter exited the shop, bypassing a group of teenage girls who stared openly at the Ghostbuster they recognised from their magazines. Peter spotted them out of the corner of his eye and flashed them a brief smile, then carried on walking.

Lunch was an amusing affair, with Peter's wise-cracking and tales of busts gone south making them all laugh.

"So let me get this straight, you turned up for work...in your pyjamas?" Auriga shook his head, laughing uproariously as Peter grinned and shrugged.

"I was tired and slightly hungover. But man, you should've SEEN Egon's expression when he caught sight of me, it was as close to ticked off as I've ever seen him! Well, aside from the incident with the ectoplasm and the egg whisk."

Paul nearly choked on his drink at that one, Peter seemed determined to do as many ludicrous actions during his lifetime as he humanly could.

"Never mind the time I mooned a ghost out the window of a helicopter," Peter grinned "it takes skill to do that with a jumpsuit on, y'know!"

He shook his head ruefully, shoulders shaking from amusement "Poor Ray, he nearly crashed the chopper when he realised what I was doing! I had to bribe him with comic books to stop him mentioning it to Egon and Winston."

All three of them were laughing fit to bust by this point. Auriga had to admit he was impressed by Peter's history of pranks and jokes. It reminded him of himself when he'd been that age, curious and not caring what the world thought.

So now he told a few tales of his own as they shared some drinks…

* * *

"Who knew that mr Auriga had a past history of almost getting arrested?" Peter chuckled as he flopped onto the couch back at his dads apartment. "Guy had skill."

"I'd all but forgotten about that phase of his, but hearing it all again, he really reminds me of you!"

"Niiiice."

Paul shook his head, expression one of mock-despair as Peter just grinned widely, evidently pleased at this.

* * *

Paul did a double take as he spotted the second of Peter's suitcases stuffed in the airing cupbaord on his way back from the kitchen.

"Hey kiddo, don't you need your things in your room?"

"Huh? Oh, no, that's just for emergencies. It's got my pack and uniform in it, but they're only in case of severe emergency. This trip isn't for work, it's for family. But if my job has taught me one vital thing, it's 'never leave home without a proton pack'!"

Paul felt a surge of happiness when Peter said that, backing it up with a smile. Peter was clearly dedicated to his job, but he was basically saying he was here to hang out, not chase spooks!

He grabbed some beers and the two of them had a lazy-off in front of the TV, watching old re-runs and doing impressions of the characters.

* * *

The next day, they journeyed over to the newly refurbished museum to have a look at the new exhibit as Peter was curious to see if the town's history mentioned anything about the ghost he and Ray had cleared out of Auriga's mall.

The museum owner recognised the Ghostbuster on sight and stopped to ask him about the wraith incident. He'd heard the story from his contact at the police station and was frankly amazed that such a thing had lain dormant for so long.

Peter told the tale alongside his father as they walked, leaving out the bits where he and Ray kissed, of course.

* * *

They were just entering the final room of the tour, when they heard a loud scream from far behind them. The three shared looks of "uh-oh." and turned back, racing through the high-ceilinged room to see-

One of the exhibits had come alive.

A terrified teenage girl was hiding behind an ornate armchair, said to belong to the homicidal brother of the ghost Peter and Ray had freed. It seemed his ghost had remained within the object, and something had woken it now!

"Peter!" Paul grabbed his son's arm as they stood there "you gotta go get your gear!"

"But- I mean of course- but-"

"Kiddo, I'm not going to get mad because you gotta do your job. Heck, it's an adventure for me to tag along on another bust, now go!"

He shoved the car keys into Peter's hand and the Ghostbuster raced away.

"Where's he going?" the museum owner asked the senior Venkman, voice rising to be heard above the din.

"My boy always comes prepared! He brought his Ghostbuster gear with him, said it was only for emergencies, but I'd say this more than qualifies- whoa!"

He grabbed the other man's sleeve and hauled them both behind a display case as the ghost whizzed by overhead.

* * *

Peter drove like a bat out of hell back to the apartment, grabbed his suitcase and dove back into the vehicle. Somehow, at the red lights, he managed to single-handedly wriggle his jumpsuit on over his shirt and slacks.

He screeched to a halt outside the museum and stumbled out of the car, shrugging his proton pack on. The shouting was getting louder now and people came running out of the building towards Peter as he tightened the straps on the pack. They cheered as they seen the uniform, that ghost was toast now! Peter gave them a wave and raced up the steps, charging the proton gun, feeling the steady thrum of energy from his backpack.

* * *

Meanwhile, Paul and the museum owner were trying to protect the girl, as the ghost seemed intent on getting to her, roaring angrily with each failed attempt.

"Go away!" the girl cried "I didn't mean to-"

"Hey!" a voice cut into the spirit's rage and it spun round to stare at a grinning human standing in the doorway, aiming a device at him.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to pick on a lady?" Peter smirked.

"Peter!" Paul grinned in triumphant relief "thats my boy!"

The ghost launched at Peter, who gave it a proton blast to the face, sending it reeling. He ducked and darted amongst the displays, hitting the ghost time and again, before finally setting the proton gun to full throttle and pinning him in place, thrashing and screaming.

Shifting his grip on the proton gun to a single-handed hold, Peter unlatched the ghost trap from his belt and lobbed it in an under-hand throw, seeing it come to a perfect halt beneath the apparition.

"You're history!" he smirked, slamming his foot down on the traps activation pedal.

The other occupants of the room shielded their eyes as the ghost was dragged into the trap, silence falling as it snapped shut with a loud clack. A series of soft beeps and the hiss of smoke filled the room, then it fell silent.

"Is it gone, kiddo?" Paul asked hesitantly, peering out from behind the chair, the young lady still gripping his sleeve tightly.

"Mm-hmm. You're safe, guys and girls." Peter picked up the trap, turning to face them as he re-attached it to his belt. The girl approached him now, looking rather embarrassed, so he gave her the smile that always made the journalists fawn over him.

"It was my fault." she said softly, making Peter frown a little at how close to tears she was.

"How?" he asked, studying her face, seeing the way she bit her lip and avoided his gaze. She plucked at her sleeve, reminding Peter of Ray and the way he fidgeted when something was bothering him.

"I've always had an 'ability', as I guess you could call it. It goes way back in my family history, I know that sounds crazy, but it's true."

"He hunts ghosts for a living," Paul interjected and Peter beamed "trust me sweetheart, he aint gonna laugh at you!"

"Dad's right, I've seen things you wouldn't believe and and some that I can't even spell!"

The girl giggled at this, earning a wink from Peter.

So she told him about how she had an ability to "read" objects, to see their history. When she'd brushed against the arm of the chair, it'd made her feel so dizzy….

"The next thing I know, that mad-as-hell ghost is on the loose and messing up the place!"

"I guess it must've been dormant, but your energy woke it. It's not your fault, these things happen." Peter assured her "that ghost is gone, so everyone can relax!"

The museum owner agreed, there hadn't been too much damage either, just a few broken display cases and the glass would be easy to replace. He offered to pay the Ghostbusters usual fee, but Peter decided to waive it, stating he was on holiday. Egon wouldn't mind, he was sure, as they all had moments where they did the odd job for free.

* * *

"Is this what day-to-day life is like for you and the other boys?" Paul asked as they drove home.

"Yup, pretty much. I've started learning to take a closer look at anything even slightly odd."

"How are you with mirrors, then?" Paul snickered, making Peter groan.

* * *

Peter rang Ray that night, while Paul was out having a drink with some of the new friends he'd made at work.

"Wow, her brother?!" Ray's voice was so full of wonder it made Peter smile widely. He loved that about Ray, his innocence and curiosity were almost infectious.

"Yup, and boy did he have a temper. No wonder she was scared of him!" Peter sighed, shaking his head silently.

"Are you OK, you're not hurt are you-?" Ray asked worriedly, but Peter assured him he was totally unscathed and that it'd been a straight-forward bust.

"I'll be back tomorrow," he reminded Ray "I can't wait to see you, Raymond. I miss you and the bed here sure feels lonely without you in it with me."

He sighed dramatically "I guess I'll just have to endure the pain of loneliness until I can pin you to the bed and kiss you silly!"

On the other end of the phone, Ray blushed brightly, toying with the phone cable as he tried to think of something flirty to say. But the best he could come up with was an adorable squeak that made Peter grin even wider on the other end of the phone.

"So damn cute." He reminded Stantz, making him relax.

Egon walked past just then, a stack of books held tightly in his arms. He seen the look of unadulterated happiness on Ray's face, watched him blush at something on the phone. Only one person came to mind that could make Ray turn that colour…

Egon smiled softly to himself, continuing upstairs with his books.

* * *

When Ray put the phone down, he couldn't stop smiling as his heart raced in excitement. He'd see Peter tomorrow, on Christmas eve!

He looked forward to kissing Peter underneath the mistletoe Janine had helpfully strung up everywhere. Once she'd enlightened Egon as to its popular meaning, the two of them bumped into one another a surprisingly frequent amount.

He was beaming to himself as he bounded up the stairs, patting Slimer on the head as he passed the wide-open fridge.

"Ray!" Slimer emerged from raiding the chiller unit and hugged his best Ghostbuster friend.

"Ray happy?" he asked, seeing Ray's smile.

"Yeah," Ray said softly "Peter's home tomorrow."

He knew he was grinning like an idiot and behaving like a lovestruck teenager, but he was genuinely looking forward to seeing his partner. When Peter was around, Ray felt free and braver then he used to be.

As he looked out the window, he seen snow start to spiral down from the sky, it really was Christmas now!

* * *

Up where Peter was, the snow had been piling down steadily since that evening. Peter drummed his fingers on the windowsill and glanced from the dark outside to the flickering TV. The weather reports didn't mention it being predicted to be a problem, that'd it'd likely melt by morning, but he was worried nonetheless.

He fell asleep that night dreaming about holding Ray in his arms beneath a myriad of Christmas lights. The colours played across their skin, caught Ray's eyes as he smiled and pressed his lips to Peter's-

-Peter woke to find he was clutching his pillow _very_ close and let it go with a sheepish cough. Talk about an overactive imagination.

Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling as the early dawn light painted it in dull shades of grey through the window blinds. He missed Ray, missed his smile and the taste of his lips…

He got up with a drowsy yawn and stumbled out into the kitchen, shivering a little in his shirt and shorts.

"Heatings on, but it's gonna take a few." his father looked at him, and Peter couldn't help sense something was up.

"Whats wrong? Did the car break down?" His stomach fluttered uneasily, but surely there were still cabs running?

"I hate to break it you, kiddo." his father gestured to the kitchen window with a heavy sigh "but I think getting out of here isn't gonna be easy."

"What?" Peter darted over to the window, stomach sinking as he seen the thick, heavy snow piling atop the car down below. The roads where almost unfindable beneath so much powdery white "oh, no no no..."

"Don't panic just yet, they'll have the snow plows out soon, I'm sure." Paul assured his son, but he could already see the despair on Peters face at the idea of not getting home to Raymond. Peter's shoulders slumped and he turned with a sigh, slumping down at the kitchen table. He looked up as his father set a cup of coffee before him.

"We'll sort something out, kiddo." he said and Peter gave him a small smile, but he doubted a small town like this would have the kind of resources needed to outwit a storm like this.

* * *

He packed his suitcase as the time drew near for them to drive down to the station. Whilst the roads to the station were at least passable, when he reached the station, he and his fragile hopes were in for a nasty surprise.

"Sorry folks, the trains aren't going anywhere. Even the freight trains are having a hard time with all this snow." an apologetic station guard told Peter and his dad as they raced across the loading bay.

"That can't be- I have to get back to New York!" Peter blurted, unable to bear having his hopes dashed.

"I'm sorry sir- wait, do I know you?" the older gentleman asked, studying the heavily-bundled up Peter. The Ghostbuster frowned, was this really the time for this?

"Hey yeah-" one of his co-workers jogged over as he heard this "I'd recognise him anywhere! That's Peter Venkman!"

"Is there ANY chance of the public trains running? Please, there's somebody I have to get home to-" Peter felt his face flush as the two station workers exchanged looks of 'well aint that sweet.'

"I'm afraid not," the second worker said "the public transport's out of the the running, even the freight cars are gonna struggled even then the bigger ones might barely have enough engine power to push through."

Peter could only stand there looking blank, much to the two station workers concern. He didn't even move until his father suggested they go get a cup of coffee inside. The station was still open, but only the shops and barista coffee places were accessible. Peter followed on autopilot, any good spirit he had that morning fizzled away.

* * *

They sat and waited, running through multiple cups of coffee apiece until Peter could stand it no longer and got to his feet.

"I'm going to go use the phone." he said dully. His father nodded and watched him mooch across the almost deserted station. The locals either knew better then to try leaving, or they were all spending Christmas at home, for there weren't many others waiting for any sliver of good news.

Peter clenched his fists as he held the receiver up to his ear, hearing its spotty, distorted ring.

"Hello, Ghostbusters!?" his heart soared as he heard Rays voice.

"Ray, thank goodness-!" He cut off, his tone slipping as his heart sank. It felt like a cruel joke, making this call.

"Peter? Is everything alright, where are you?" Ray felt the first stirrings of worry as he heard Peter's voice go from upbeat to sad in the span of a few words.

"I'm- I'm stranded Ray. At least, I think I am. I don't know if I'll be able to make it home unless all this snow just ups and vanishes," his voice lodged in his throat as he heard the disappointed intake from the other end of the line "I'm so sorry Ray, the snow-"

Ray recovered his voice even as his eyes prickled, and he wiped them quickly, determined to stay cheerful for Peter. He sounded like he needed it the most right now.

"It's alright, Peter. I-I'm sure you'll be able to get here soon. I'll wait until you get here to-"

"Spend it with the others, cutie. You shouldn't be on your own, I'll get there as soon as I can. NO matter what it takes…"

Ray felt like crying, it hurt to think they wouldn't get to spend their first Christmas together...well, _together_! He'd been daydreaming about it ever since Peter had left….

"Is there really no hope?" he asked.

"Only the freight-" Peter yelped as the line buzzed painfully in his ear "-Ray?"

"Lines- cant hear-" Ray's voice was interspersed with sharp snaps of static interference.

"Ray.." He whispered softly, but it was no use. Something was wrong with the line. The last thing he heard was three faint but unmistakeable words from Ray and then the line went dead.

Peter slammed the handset back into the cradle with more force then it needed. Could this get any worse?!

* * *

Back at HQ, Ray sniffled softly as the dull tone of the disconnected like rang hollowly in his ear.

He set the handset down, feeling the disappointment clawing at his chest as he got up and walked to the window, staring out at the snow and hating it for keeping Peter from him, pointless as the feeling was.

At that precise moment, Winston came haring in from outside, zooming up the steps and leaving a trail of snow behind him.

"You would not believe how butt-numbingly-" he stopped short as he seen Ray's expression "hay, what's the matter?"

"I just got a call from Peter." Ray said dully.

"Is he alright?" Winston asked, really concerned by now.

"Yeah, he's fine. Just stranded. Snow's too heavy, he wont-" Ray trailed off, turning his attention back to staring out the window.

"Oh man, I'm sorry Ray. That's so unfair.." Winston patted his shoulder sympathetically, noting Ray's miserable expression in the window reflection "Is there nothing running at all?"

Ray shook his head.

"He said something about freight before we got cut off, but I didn't understand."

"He probably means the freight trains, those things are built like tanks, bigger engine may give them an edge. Don't know if they're allowed to carry people though, driver aside."

"Yeah..." Ray said heavily.

Winston patted his good friend's shoulder once more before heading upstairs to change. He felt bad for Ray, but there wasn't anything they could do. Not even the mini-chopper they had for aerial chases would be able to go out it he storm, it was far too lightweight to withstand the winds.

He bumped into Egon as the blonde finally left his lab for the first time all day. When he told him about Ray's unfortunate news, Egon frowned, then turned and went back into the lab without saying a word. Winston just shrugged and carried on down the hall, for Egon, that was practically normal!

* * *

Ray fidgeted about downstairs, hating being so useless. There had to be something he could do, surely?

His fidgets eventually got the best of him and when combined this with the thought running about his head concerning freight trains, he ran upstairs to Egon's lab.

"What's the matter?" Egon asked, seeing Ray still looked approximately as upset as Winston had described.

"Egon, I need to use your computer. Would you mind?" Ray said softly.

Egon studied him a moment then nodded, before turning back to the experiment he was working on. Ray sat himself down at the terminal and began digging through every train schedule available, even some that Egon, as a 'civilian', shouldn't have access to.

He jotted down some train times, a faint hope blooming in his stomach. He had a chance, which was more than he'd had after the call from Peter.

He shut the computer down, getting up and heading for the door. Nervous butterflies danced in his belly, but he had to do it, for Peter.

But if he let slip about this to the others, he knew they'd try and stop him and he just couldn't face that chance.

"Did you get what you needed?" Egon said with that uncanny timing of his and Ray yelped, scrunching the paper tightly in his hands.

"Y-yeah, I did. Thanks!" then he was off like a shot, sensing Egon frowning after him. As Ray shot out the door, Janine came in and they just about avoided a collision.

"Sorry!" Ray called as he hastened down the hall.

"Why is Ray acting like a greyhound with its rear end on fire?" she asked a perplexed Egon.

"I'm not sure," Egon said, brow furrowing even further "he's a bit antsy since Peter wont be here for Christmas."

'What? Why?" Janine sat on the edge of the desk, she hadn't heard about this, poor Ray! Egon explained what Winston had told him and Janine sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"Poor guys, they were so excited about it. You could see Ray was delighted to spend Christmas with Peter."

Egon nodded "it sounds unscientific but I think he's heartbroken, to borrow the phrase. I don't know what he's doing to occupy himself, but I don't want to intrude in case his emotional state gets worse."

"Maybe that's for the best, gives him some space."

Egon looked up at her, managing a faint smile as he reached up to clasp her hand. But both of them felt guilty, they had one another but poor Ray had had his hopes dashed by the cruel weather.

Ray waited until he was sure everyone else was distracted before sneaking out. He wore a heavy tan coat, scarf and woollen gloves. Bracing himself against the cold and with a rumpled schedule shoved deep in his pocket, he began walking towards the station.

* * *

Winston stepped back, wiping a hand over his forehead, looking down at his masterpiece.

"There we go, my grandma's traditional treacle cake! Ray, you want some of this? It's fresh out of the oven!"

No answer.

That was odd, normally Ray was all ears when you mentioned cake. But several seconds passed and still no sign of Raymond Stantz.

"Ray? You asleep?" Winston called, but no reply was heard.

He looked downstairs, no Ray.

Checked the bedroom, no Ray.

He tried Egon's lab- and while he found the doctor and Janine sitting close together and discussing something or another over a plate of cookies- no Ray.

"What's wrong?" Janine seen Winston's puzzled and rapidly worried expression, causing Egon to lift his head from the magazine they'd been discussing.

"Either of you guys seen Ray in the last half hour?" Winston asked. The two glanced at each other, then shook their heads.

"Nope." Janine said.

"Negative." Egon confirmed, then asked "why?"

"Because I've scoured the whole station, you guys. This was the last place I hadn't looked. He's not here, he's GONE."

"What?" Janine gasped "how, where?"

Egon frowned at this news, filtering everything he'd noticed about Ray since earlier and looking for clues.

"Egon?" Janine waved a hand in his face, then booped him on the nose. This made him focus and he stared owlishly at her.

"What, yes?" he said vaguely, then bounded out of his chair and over to his terminal.

"You seem oddly unfazed." Winston remarked to Janine, who simply shrugged.

"It's just how Egon is, I just wait until the world catches up then give him a hand."

Winston smiled softly, it was nice to see these two finally hooking up, Janine had been sighing over the eccentric dr. Spengler for years now, ever since first joining the Ghostbusters! She crossed over now to where Egon was sat at his terminal, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"Egon, what've you found?" she asked and Egon's blue eyes moved from the screen to her and he tapped the screen.

"The last program Ray ran was this database of transport schedules and routes. I think he was trying to find a train's information-"

"The freight trains!" The penny dropped and Winston snapped his fingers as they blinked at him "he mentioned to me earlier that the last thing Peter was able to say before the line went dead, was something about freight trains!"

"That must be where he's gone, to the freight terminal!" Janine pressed a hand to her mouth, worry gnawing at her stomach "that boy, he's going to catch cold walking all that way!"

"I may have a solution!" Egon said with a rare smile, getting up from his chair and scooping an unlabelled bottle of chemical from his desk. Without a backwards glance, he ran off out of the room as fast as his long legs could carry him.

"That man, honestly.." Janine chuckled, striding after him with Winston in tow.

* * *

Egon's latest experiment turned out to be a new type of repellent for the Ectomobile's tyres that would aid the vehicle against the snow.

"I had expected Peter would be arriving during possibly adverse weather, so I thought I would eliminate the prospect of the car being unusable and pick him up from the station. When Winston informed me of the delay, I stepped up the completion time."

Egon explained all this as he poured the stuff into a bowl and grabbed a paintbrush. His whole body seemed to be full of a boundless energy as he balanced on his haunches and daubed the first coat onto the tyres.

"So this component is untested and we may have to replace the tyres, but given the situation, I don't think that matters."

"You said it." Winston nodded. "It's Christmas, the perfect time for a miracle!"

"Right! The statistics of this endeavour should, if my formula is correct, equal that of a miracle." Egon got to his feet and turned to face the other two "I need you both to stay here, because if this thing doesn't succeed, I don't want all of us trapped out there. Also, I may need you to call the tow company."

"I don't like the thought of you going out by yourself," Janine sighed "but you know what you're doing, Egon. Just be careful, OK?"

"Of course, aren't I always?" Egon said, looking puzzled as Janine tucked a loose lock of blonde hair behind his ear.

"Not if you count the incident with the portal-" Zeddemore began, only for Janine to give him a withering look.

"Never mind!" Winston tried not to laugh and Janine winked at Egon, who relaxed. Winston was only joking…

* * *

Egon made sure he was bundled up against the cold as Winston warmed up Ecto-1's engine. When Spengler got into the driver's seat, sat on the seat next to him was a thermos of coffee Winston had prepared.

Just in case, he said.

The remaining two team members waved to him as he took off into the snowy evening.

* * *

Egon drove as fast, yet as carefully, as he could, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. The chemical was working well, the substance melted the snow but dried it at the same time, so the tyres gripped better then anyone else out in this weather.

Fifteen minutes later and he was still peering through the heavy flakes of snow when he thought he recognised the man striding ahead on the pavement, his head bowed against the wind, red hair mussed about by the gusts of frigid air;

"Ray?" Egon murmured, pulling ahead and bounding out of the car.

Sure enough, it WAS Stantz. He came to a skittering halt, blinking at Egon over the collar of his coat.

"Get in the car, Ray." Egon said firmly, gesturing to the warmth of Ecto-1.

But Ray shook his head, darting around Egon's out-held hand and leaning into the wind tearing at his face.

"I'm not abandoning him, Egon-"

"Listen to me for a moment-" Egon tried again, but Ray just tried to run off instead. He misjudged his footing however and slipped, a strangled yelp escaping his lips.

He would've landed flat on his back in the snow had Egon not braced his feet and caught him. He steadied Ray back on his feet, keeping a firm grip on his friend as he tried again;

"I didn't come after you to take you home, I came to help." he explained his plan, making Ray stare in wide-eyed hopeful surprise.

"Really?" he asked, Egon nodded and offered a rarely seen smile.

"Indeed. I coated Ecto-1's wheels with a new compound of mine to reduce the chance of losing traction. Get in and I will drive you to the station."

"Thanks, Egon." Ray said softly as he settled himself in the passenger seat, examining the thermos that'd previously occupied it.

"You should drink some of that," Egon added as he pulled away from the kerb "it'll warm you up."

* * *

The coffee helped Ray feel a little less like an icicle shaped like a human and by the time they reached the station, he was back to just anxious worrying.

Ray was puzzled when Egon insisted they take their proton packs, but he was too cold and upset to really question it as they stumbled through the snow towards the entrance. Ray seen the security guard frown and move towards them as they reached the door and his heart cramped.

Sure enough…

"Sorry boys, the trains aren't coming in right now, you're wasting your time."

"Y-you don't udnerstand-" Ray stammered but the guy just shook his head.

"It's late, you gentlemen should be at home." the guard insisted.

Ray looked crestfallen, so Egon chanced a plan he'd been brooding over during the drive here. He pulled the PKE meeter and twiddled with one of the dials, making the thing give off some noises HE knew were just test sounds, but sounded convincing enough to the guard.

"We were using a new amplifier for the meter and I picked up signals coming from within this station."

"Really?" the guard looked abruptly spooked, glancing back over his shoulder "are you sure?"

"We're the Ghostbusters, of course we're sure." Egon said and Ray nodded, shivering again.

"Come inside, your friend there looks ready to turn into a block of ice." the guard led them inside, glancing about for anyone else before lowering his voice "it's good you're here, there's been some right odd noises coming from Tunnel 4."

"Is that one in service?" Egon asked.

"Yeah, or it would be if the passenger trains were running. Maybe its just a stray animal, but the sounds I've been hearing, it gives ya the shivers."

"Well, we'll do our best to catch it!" Ray said as brightly as he could.

* * *

"Shame about this weather," the guard continued as he led them to his boss' office "anyone hoping for a late miracle is outta luck, it'll likely be tomorrow before anything resembling a schedule is back up."

"I see." Ray said, trying not to give away how much hearing this hurt.

"Has anything been able to get through?" Egon asked curiously as the guy knocked on his boss' door.

"Yeah, one or two of the big freighters. But all they got is goods." the guard didn't see the look Egon cast Ray. This told both of them Peter hadn't gotten here so far.

"There's still hope." Egon murmured so softly that only Ray heard it at all. He nodded to his friend, but couldn't quite smile.

* * *

The boss was a little skeptical, but the workers had been muttering amongst themselves about strange noises all week, so he figured it was easier to just let these guys take a look around now, then waste time calling them later on.

He gave them some industrial strength flashlights and led them to the tunnel entrance. The two paranormal experts descended into the tunnel, breath frosting in the air the further below they went.

"Egon?"

"Mmm-hm?"

"How did you know that would work? You were just making funny noises with the PKE meter."

Egon chuckled, the sound rumbling around the massive tunnel "truthfully, Ray, I didn't. I was just hoping it would be enough to get us inside so we could find out about the trains. That it turns out we are legitimately required surprises even me."

"Wow." Ray's eyes were wide in the darkness of the tunnel, hands gripping his flashlight tightly. "that's pretty amazing, Egon."

"Thank you." Egon said brightly, seeming rather happy.

The next second they're came a funny splashing sound and a gurgling moan. It reminded Ray of the creature from that movie he'd gone to see with Peter last month. Really wishing he HADN'T thought about that, Ray crept cautiously forward. Egon was on point and Ray was bringing up the rear.

—I just know Peter would make a joke about that..— he thought, a minute smile warming his frozen lips.

All seemed still for a moment, then Ray spotted a ripple in the water heading right towards Egon-

"Watch out!" He splashed forward, desperately trying to reach Egon, but it was too late. The thing roared up from the water, one scaly and see-through hand grasping Egon's ankle and pulling him off his feet.

Egon gasped and coughed as icy water soaked him to the bone in seconds, then he was hauled up into the air, the world swirling around him. He could hear Ray yelling and trying to distract the monster by insulting its mother? A tad impractical but- Egon made the mistake of looking up into the thing's face as it dangled him in the air, seeing razor sharp fangs set in thick fleshy fish lips. He gagged at the deathly stench radiating from it as it roared at him.

Then he seen something even MORE concerning. Right above where the monster stood was an electrical box, if they hit that it'd cause a massive blowout!

"Ray!" he hollered "shoot it, now!"

"I cant do that! I'll hit YOU!" Ray cried, dodging a swing from the monsters foot as it tried to stamp him out.

"If you don't, it'll fry both of us...look!" Egon squawked as he was brought closer to the things mouth. Ray followed his gaze, seen the electrical box and his eyes widened. Turning the proton gun's power on low, he aimed for the things wrist, where it held Egon.

This caught the fishy creature off balance and it actually released its prisoner to howl in fury at its new attacker. Egon pushed himself to his feet and checked his pack. Good, it was undamaged.

He looked at Ray and they nodded, before they ramped the packs up to full power and unleashed the full fury of the Ghostbusters on the swamp things cousin.

* * *

A minute later and they emerged from the tunnel, Ray holding a trap and Egon starting to REALLY shiver.

Seeing the state of him, the station manager told him to sit in the office, he'd fetch some blankets and see if anyone had some spare clothes that would fit. Ray poked the drinks machine until it spat out some black coffee, which he handed to Egon, who knocked it back with a grateful sigh.

"You gonna be OK?" Ray asked him and Egon nodded.

"With the right environment, it is unlikely I will get sick. Once I raise my body temperature, I should be fine."

Ray nodded and smiled, glancing at the clock on the wall after a second.

"W-when was the last freight train?" Egon asked.

"In about an hour." Ray said softly "they'll want us out before then, Egon."

"I'm sorry, Ray." Egon sighed "I'll do my best."

Ray blinked at him, wondering what that meant?

* * *

As Egon pondered ways to waste time, Peter was closer then either of them realised.

Back in time when Ray was searching for train information on Egon's system, Peter was still trying to pace out his frustration.

He tried the phone again, but no response. The line was officially dead.

"Damnit!" he said sharply as his rage hit a peak, slamming a hand against the wall. He felt furious tears prick at his eyes, why did this have to happen? All he wanted was to see Raymond..

"Wow, it's gotta be pretty bad if its got you pulling that face."

Peter jolted, seeing a man in a heavy duty workers uniform emerging from the bathroom by the phone, marked 'for employees only'.

"I'm stuck here," Peter said wearily "and someone special that I made a promise to is waiting for me, back in New York."

"Ah, I see. That's the pits, isn't it?" the guy gave Peter a sympathetic smile "still, there's always new years?"

"I know but I promised I'd be back for Christmas. It's the first year we'd be spending together, so I wanted to make it something worthwhile."

The worker nodded, then stuck out a hand and introduced himself as Stanley Madsen.

"Peter Venkman." the depressed doctor smiled as best he could as he shook the gloved hand.

"Venkman? As in-?" the guys eyes widened, he hadn't recognised him under all those layers, let alone looking so strung out.

"Ghostbusters, yup." Peter said with a sigh "that's me."

"Hehe, nice to meet you! My wife's a big fan, she's fascinated with the supernatural. Me, I try not to think about it."

"So do I." Peter joked and the guy laughed.

"What're you doing here at this hour?" Stanley asked as he and the Ghostbuster began walking idly towards the cafe.

"I was hoping to find a way home-"

"Oh, of course, so you said! I'm driving the freight train to the end of its route, we pass through New York-"

Peter came to a halt, barely daring to hope. Stanley turned and seen his expression, could see the exhausted man looked on the verge of collapse under the weight of hope.

"Ah, heck- wait here, I'll go talk with the super, see if he cant make an exception for a celebrity."

Peter nodded, finding his father a minute later.

'I think we should call it quits and go home, its already dark out-" Paul Venkman began, but Peter shook his head and explained about Stanley and his father nodded.

"Well then, I guess we can wait a little longer kiddo."

* * *

The few short minutes that passed felt like an eternity for Peter, but then Stanley finally returned.

His expression said it all and Peter's heart sank.

"I begged the boss, but he says rules is rules, we cant allow non-staff on board."

Peter drew himself together, keeping a remarkably calm expression on his face even as he thanked him.

Right then there was a loud BANG and a shout. Peter almost fell over, it caught him so off guard.

"What the blazes was that?" Paul Venkman asked.

"It came from my platform, mines the only train waiting to depart-" Stanley took off running. Peter darted over to the table and swiped his suitcase, the one with the proton pack in and ran after him.

"Hay now- what're you doin'?" Stanley did a double take.

"If it's one thing this job has taught me, it's that screaming often tends to lead to a spook! They make people scream in just a certain way." Peter said as he kept pace alongside Stanley.

Unsure what else to do, Peter's father hurried after them, still holding Peter's other suitcase in his hand!

* * *

They emerged onto the platform to see the aforementioned train sat at the platform. But one of the carriages was glowing an unearthly green and screaming.

"See? Told you!" Peter said to a stunned Stanley.

The boss Stanley had just spoken to came running over. He seen the two strangers and fixated on them instead of the threat behind him;

"Who're these clowns?" He snapped at Stanley but Peter was having none of it.

"I'm a Ghostbuster." Peter said, shoving his face close to the other's "and you got a ghost. Up to speed yet?"

The boss stared, then looked at Stanley as Peter got his proton pack and traps from the case. The guy hadn't been kidding, it really was a Ghostbuster. He'd assumed it was just some desperate civilian trying to hitch a ride, he hadn't expected an actual buster!

Peter told everyone else to stay back and ran towards the carriage, whistling sharply. The carriages searing green eyes fixed on him and Peter flipped it the bird, before taking off running, firing over his shoulder and hitting it square in the face. It growled, then the green shimmer shifted to the next car, further away from Peter.

"Oh-ho.." Peter grinned as he copped onto the ghost's game, yelling across to Stanley as he took cover behind an upturned cargo pallet "Hey, where do you keep the coolant, I know just how to kick this things ass!"

Seeing Peter wink, Stanley played along, shakily pointing to an ordinary fire extinguisher.

As Peter lunged for it, the green thing cackled and beat him there by a second, convinced this creature was going to fail, but Peter grinned, dropping to his stomach and firing the proton pack at the extinguisher. In this vastly smaller form, it realised its mistake but the weapon was now enough to overwhelm it.

The extinguisher rattled and hissed, before the thing released control and tried to flee back to the train and recoup, but Peter's beam locked it in place once more.

One trap later and the shrieking nuisance was finally dispatched. Peter glanced over at the others as they stepped out into the open.

"That's my boy!" Paul Venkman whooped, earning a smile and a salute from Peter.

"You're his dad?" Stanley asked, nodding in approval "you raised a smart kid, bud. Never seen anyone fight like that."

"Oh, you should see all four of them together, it's astonishing." Paul grinned.

The boss approached Peter now as the Ghostbuster switched off his proton pack.

"Thank you- Peter, is it?"

"Peter Venkman, well, Doctor to be precise, but, eh-" he shrugged and shook the proffered hand.

"Seeing as you saved the train from exploding or gaining sentience, I think we can bend the rules this time and get you back to New York."

Peter felt about to collapse, he barely managed to stammer out his thanks, feeling light headed with relief.

But when Stanley went to start the train, the engine had been drained by the spectral intruder.

"Switch to back up-" the boss began, but Peter lifted a hand, stopping him.

"I can solve that. I seen Egon do this with a chopper once." Peter said, scrambling into the engine compartment. Some fiddling later and he was able to use the proton pack to refuel the train's main battery.

"There, now you're good to go!" he grinned to Stanley and his boss.

Paul smiled, he had never been more proud of his son. The kid was a genius in his own right…

"I'll get gone," he hugged his son goodbye "I'll stay at a hotel for tonight and go home in the morning."

"Be careful, call me tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want to join us at HQ?"

"Thanks kiddo, but I have a promise to keep to Auriga, we're having Christmas dinner at that restaurant we went to. I hear their Christmas dinners are sublime!"

Peter smiled, nodding. "I'll see you, dad." he said, before hopping on board the train with Stanley, where the suitcases and himself soon found space behind where the drivers seat was.

* * *

Peter waved out the window at his dad as the train groaned into life, then took off at speed, boosted by the portable nuclear accelerators power donation.

"Whoops, may have supercharged it." Peter grinned. "whee!"

Stanley shook his head as he brought the train under control. This guy was a real wildcard, wasn't he?

As the massive train rumbled along, Stanley quizzed Peter about this loved one of his that he'd put everything on the line for. Peter answered as truthfully as he could, but never once mentioning that it was in fact a guy. He assumed Stanley was thinking it was a girl, so he deliberately kept his descriptions vague.

"Good kisser?" he tapped his chin and grinned, thinking of the way Ray's lips tasted and the way he melted in Peter's arms "heck yeah."

"Sounds like this guy's something special." Stanley remarked, keeping an eye on Peter in the reflection of the mirror.

"Yes, he – wait, what?!" Peter scuttled back so fast he banged his head on the first aid cabinet, rather ironically.

"Hehe," Stanley chuckled "don't worry, I'm not bein' harsh. My sister's got a girl if you catch my drift."

"I-I see.." Peter stammered, heart pounding crazily from panic "how did you-?"

"Work it out? The way you avoided all mention of gender, that's how. I figured there had to be a reason and the rest was easy."

"I see..." Peter sighed "you're scary good at that. Janine did the same thing, she knew about the situation before we even told anyone-"

"Let me guess, its' one of your co-workers?"

"Habuhh?"

"Again, it's in the things you didn't say," Stanley cast him a grin "I'm good at reading between the lines. For this Janine to know before the others, she had to have been around you and your parter. So, let me guess; the red-head?"

"Are you _sure_ you're not psychic?" Peter was throughly weirded out now "that's freaky accurate."

"Like I said, it's all in reading a persons body language and what they say and how they say it. It was a lucky guess, actually. He was the first one that sprung to mind. I've seen him on the TV, he seems a good sort."

"Yeah, he's about the most decent guy around. " Peter smiled softly. "I didn't think I'd be so lucky, but here we are."

"Heh, sounds like a guy worth fighting for. Hay, what's wrong?"

He asked this as Peter's smile faded and he sighed.

"Well, now you know, the secrets really out."

"I'm not gonna go to the press. I wouldn't do it to my own sister, so I'm sure as heck not gonna do it to anyone else, I was raised better then that!" Stanley assured him.

"So I can tell." Peter said, feeling a proper relieved smile appear on his face.

After they'd been chatting awhile, Peter began to feel drowsy and drifted asleep-

* * *

-only to be woken with a hand to his shoulder. He bolted up, looking blearily around him.

"You cant prove it was me who let that pigeon into your office, Egon!" He blinked as he heard laughter and recalled where he was with an embarrassed cough.

"We're here doc," Stanley offered a hand and helped Peter to his feet. Peter stretched his back and swore colourfully as it popped back into joint.

Grabbing his suitcases, he hopped down from the drivers cab. Looking back, he smiled at his unexpected helper.

"Thanks man, I owe you one. If you ever got a ghost, call me." he handed one of his business cards to Stanley, who pocketed it with a grin.

"Go on doc, run along now, go see your beloved."

Peter waved goodbye, hollering his thanks once more as he pelted off towards the exit, suitcases in hand. He shoulder-checked the door, stumbling out into yet more snow.

He ran round the rear of the building, finally seeing the parking lot.

It was deserted.

He felt a desperate cry claw its way up his throat, biting his lip. He was so tired, what was he supposed to do now? He was on the verge of giving up, body shaking from the cold-

Just then, the wind changed direction and he fancied he heard a familiar deep baritone voice talking at length about something he couldn't make out.

-Egon?- he thought dizzily, spinning on his heel and vaulting a fence, ditching the suitcases in his desperation. He pushed himself as hard as his tired body could, skidding around the corner-

* * *

Once Egon was dry, redressed and feeling better, the duo left. There'd been no sign of the last train, to Ray's silent despair.

"I'm sorry, Ray." Egon said as they trudged outside towards where they'd parked the car, down the side of one of the storage buildings.

"It's OK, Egon. You did everything you could. Thanks for everything..."

"No trouble, Ray." Egon assured him, making the red-head smile faintly.

Egon strode ahead, rummaging for the keys to Ecto-1. But the cold had made the door lock freeze up. He was so busy swearing at it he didn't realise Ray had come to a halt several feet behind him. The unhappy Ghostbuster stood silently, staring at the crisp white snow around him.

"So much for Christmas." he said hoarsely. Then he heard a voice on the wind. Spinning on his heel, he glanced wildly around, wondering if he'd finally gone mad.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, wondering if the wind was playing tricks.

"Hm? I didn't hear anything, Ray." Egon was STILL fiddling with the keys.

But Ray didn't respond, he was too shocked to for he'd seen what he told himself had to be a mirage.

There, just at the corner of the building, was Peter. Bent double, hands on his knees, gasping for air, he had to have run the whole way from…

Where had he come from?

Ray briefly wondered this, then decided he didn't care. Shucking his proton pack, he took off running, reaching Peter just as he stood up straight. In his usual fashion, Ray body-tackled him, flinging his arms tightly around Peter's waist. They crashed to the snow in a flurry of white, hands clutching one another and lips desperately pressing together.

"Peter..?" Ray asked, letting him go at last, lips tingling from the kiss.

"Who else?" Peter said, stroking Ray's cheek gently before tangling his fingers in his hair and pulling the man's mouth back down to his. He kissed Ray greedily, running his tongue along Ray's lips and groaning deeply as Ray parted them.

Clutching handfuls of Peter's coat, Ray uttered a delirious sigh, his whole body shaking from relief. It had to be a miracle...Peter was _here_.

They parted at last, their eyes met and a million things seemed to pass between them, both too happy to speak. Then they realised where they were, lying in a pile of snow, in a tangle of limbs and making out in below zero temperatures.

Ray bit his lip, cheeks flushing as he tried not to laugh, but Peter had no such control and he burst into gleeful giggles, with Ray not far behind. He sat up, Ray half on his lap and half in the snow as he tucked the red-head close to his chest, resting his chin on top of Ray's head.

"Here I thought our first kiss would be the most out of left field part of this relationship!" Peter chuckled, holding Ray tight and breathing in the scent of his hair.

Ray unexpectedly felt hot tears prick his eyes as he felt the warmth of Peter's embrace and he couldn't hold them back as his giggles turned to cries of relief.

"Shhh, it's OK Ray. I'm here now, I'm sorry I worried you." Peter's soft voice made Ray's heart calm, the warmth of him chasing away the cold and fear.

* * *

Egon turned as he heard a scuffle, a thud and then laughter. Standing up, he seen Ray lying in the snow some distance away with a very familiar someone.

"Peter? Surely that's impossible?" he murmured, jogging towards them. As he came within audible distance he ground to a halt, seeing them so closely embraced. The streetlights glinted off Ray's tears of happiness as they splashed onto Peter's coat.

Peter looked tired but relieved beyond words as he stroked Ray's hair, lips moving as he no doubt comforted him.

Egon stood there, staring awkwardly at his shoes until he heard Peter's voice;

"Egon? What ARE you wearing?"

"Huh?" Egon blinked, then realised he was clad in the spare clothes the station manager had leant him. "long story. I'm more curious as to how you got here?"

"I propose a trade; you drive, we'll swap stories." Peter chuckled, helping Ray up and tucking an arm around his waist. Then he realised one important factor "crap!"

"Crap what?" Ray asked.

Peter face palmed and explained about the suitcases. Egon told him to stay put and went to fetch them. He came back a minute later, carrying both of them in his arms. Once they were all secured in the car, the stories began.

* * *

Peter's eyebrows rose as he heard about the swamp things ugly cousin and why Egon had to borrow someone else's clothes.

As promised, he began explaining how he'd gotten all the way back to New York.

Ray was silent, Peter had gone to all that trouble..?

"For you?" Peter read Ray's expression right away and squeezed his hand gently "Yes. I promised I'd be here, I couldn't stand to break such an important promise."

Ray hugged him as best he could with the seatbelt in the way. Peter kissed his forehead, just revelling in the feel of his body. He'd missed him sorely…

Egon smiled softly as he heard them murmuring to each other as he drove.

* * *

At last he pulled back into the station and Janine came running up as soon as he stepped out, throwing her arms around him.

"Thank goodness, you were gone so long-"

"My apologies Janine, it took longer then we expected. But, I have good news." Egon stepped back, gesturing to the other occupants as they got out the car.

"Hey Janine." Peter said with an exhausted grin.

"Well I'll be, you found him! Good to have you home Peter, it wouldn't be Christmas without you." Janine said kindly. Peter flashed her a grateful smile, his arm still around Ray.

"Hey, Pete!" Winston come downstairs and seen their missing comrade safe and sound. Peter grinned and met Winston's high-five as he came over.

Seeing them all so content, Ray felt tears blur his vision again.

"Ray?" Janine seen him tear up and set a hand on his shoulder "what's the matter?"

"Nothing, I-I'm just so happy to see everyone together. It seemed so impossible..."

He wiped his eyes, seeing the blurry outlines of his friends he felt himself blush. But when Peter wiped the tears away with his sleeve, he seen they were all smiling at him.

"It's almost Christmas Day, we got Peter back and I made a lot of cake. I'd say that's a pretty awesome Christmas, wouldn't you Ray?" Winston grinned.

Ray nodded, only able to squeak in relief and shock.

"Squeaky Ray!" Peter said cheerily, slinging an arm around him and kissing the top of his head. The others crowded round him and Peter now, laughing and joking to make them smile.

Once they'd had some hot chocolate and caught up on both sides of the story with their friends, the two rail-crossed lovers said they were pretty exhausted, so opted to go to bed.

Egon suggested they used the spare bedroom if they wanted time to talk.

* * *

Leaving the suitcases behind, Peter tucked an arm around Ray and escorted the man upstairs. Ray didn't say a word, just revelled in the fact his wish had come true. He had his lover back in time for Christmas..

He lifted his gaze to meet Venkman's as he opened the bedroom door, felt a delicious thrill run up his spine as he seen the look of longing mirrored in Peter's eyes.

They barely got the door closed then they were kissing passionately, warmth chasing away the cold.

Ray clung tightly to Peter, pressing into the kiss with an eager moan as Peter nibbled his lower lip. They parted at last, lips warm and tingling…

Peter traced Ray's lower lip with his thumb, feeling how warm and plumped up by the kissing it was and he licked his lips.

"Shall we warm up?" He asked huskily.

Ray's response was a kiss that made Peter groan and he let his hands roam down Ray's back, gently massaging the red-head's rear.

Ray squeaked but he evidently liked it, going by the way he blushed and smiled.

He stepped back now, moving towards the bed with Peter's hands entwined with his. They fell onto the bed, closing the distance between them until not even a breath separated them. Ray slipped his hands up underneath Peter's shirt, running fingertips up his back and making Peter shiver in delight. They parted to draw breath and Ray took in Peter's flushed but happy face, the way he smiled at him.

"I love you, Raymond." Peter whispered, making Ray's heart go so fast he barely managed to talk;

"I love you too, Peter..."

Peter claimed his lips in another kiss, as his whole world came down to this man. The scent of him, the sensation of his hands over Peter's body and the heat of his bare skin as they shed their clothing.

Dimly, they heard the TV playing a movie, heard the joyous laughter of the others as they watched it. But Ray and Peter only had eyes for each other and the importance of taking this miraculous chance to be together completely as Christmas Day loomed on the horizon.

"You're the best gift I've ever been given." Peter whispered as he kissed Ray's throat, his hands roaming Ray's body with a practised familiarity as he crouched between his partner's legs, finding each spot that made Ray gasp and moan so cutely.

Peter's fingers traced the curve of Ray's thighs as he planted a loving kiss on the man's lips. Ray let his hands settle at Peter's back, pulling them closer together and pressing his lips against Peter's. His body felt like it was on fire, he needed Peter, needed the heat that only this amazing man could give.

Peter met his eyes and smiled, gently gripping Ray's hips as he lifted them..

* * *

As thier climax faded, Peter lay propped up against the pillows with Ray curled up next to him, one hand curling under Peter's back and the other resting on his chest. They were both breathless and the bedsheets clung to their sweat-dusted bodies. But they didn't notice, they only felt the warmth of one another as they basked in the afterglow.

"Best. Christmas. Ever." Peter murmured, kissing Ray's forehead.

Ray nodded, kissing Peter's lips gently. He squeaked as Peter's hand caressed his rear, sending wonderful echoes of pleasure up his back. Peter smiled, kissing Ray on the nose as he murmured.

"I'm impressed at your stamina, Raymond." Peter grinned, strands of sweat-drenched brown hair fling into his eyes as he let his hands return to holding his lover. Ray had been so deliciously energetic-

He felt his body start to stir again and groaned, biting his lip and telling it to back off. He'd never proposed doing it more than once at a pace like this. He breathed out, feeling some sense of control return just as Ray decided to let that bold side of himself loose once more.

Ray felt his heart race and fresh longing dart from his stomach and up his spine, as he seen and felt Peter groan and shiver. He felt the desire to give Peter a little extra gift and thus surprised Peter by moving to straddle his lap, stroking a hand up Venkman's chest.

"Raymond?" Peter asked, did Ray have enough energy for another round? "Don't worry about it- _ahh, ohh yes_..!"

As he spoke, Ray's lips graced his and his free hand slid further down Peter's body to somewhere **far** more intimate, sending the mother of all jolts up his back.

"You saucy little flirt. You amaze me with how damn cute you are." He breathlessly teased Ray, who blushed and squeaked cutely. His heart was pounding crazily as he ducked his head, heat flooding his face. Was this not what Peter wanted?

But Peter set a hand under Ray's chin, lifting his gaze and rubbing his thumb across Ray's cheek.

"-And I WHOLEHEARTEDLY approve, come here." He grinned, gripping Ray's hips once more.

Ray looked so cutely relieved and there was such a delightful fire his his eyes that Peter suddenly had an idea. He aimed to stoke that fire still smouldering within his precious Ghostbuster. He let go of Ray's hips now and moved his hands to grip the headboard behind him tightly instead.

"I'm all yours, Raymond." He challenged seductively, seeing Ray flush, but there was also a gleam in the normally quiet man's eyes. "Don't hold back."

Ray's heart pounded deliriously hard as he shifted how he was sat, hands pressing to hips..

—I've never done this before, but for Peter…—

Peter bit his lip and uttered a near feral growl of pleasure as his dear Raymond took the reigns this time, leaving him to experience the heat of Ray's body in a whole new way.

Ray was gentle and shy at first, but Peter's grunts and moans of desire made him bolder and he strove to give Peter the same crescendo of pleasure that Venkman had always given him. He knew he'd never forget the way Peter gasped his name, the way he released the headboard and held Ray close as they finished.

Ray moved back as he recovered his breath, blushing as he regarded the panting, dazed Venkman before him.

"-Did I- I mean?" Ray blushed, how stupid could he sound, asking whether he'd been able to repay the sweet act of intercourse? But once again, Peter didn't let him feel uncertain, sitting up and kissing Ray deeply.

"Damn right you did." Peter said huskily, then pulled Ray into his arms and held him tight.

"That was amazing, Ray." He whispered a moment later, hearing Ray squeak "I knew you'd be good. You have such fire in you, you warmed me up good and proper!"

Ray blushed happily, unable to speak for how content he was.

"See, you are capable of so much, my sweet Raymond." Peter murmured as they crawled under the covers, the events of the last day catching up to them both.

"Happy Christmas, Peter…" Ray whispered sleepily, hearing the clock chime midnight somewhere below.

"Happy Christmas, my dear Ray."

What would the next day hold, or the new year?


	5. Echo Part 1

**_Thank you to a certain reviewer for being so kind when I was feeling down. I'm proud to bring this massive chapter to you and everyone who follows this story! Due to its size, it's being split into two parts! __**

 ** _Bonus fact: this idea was partly inspired by the vocaloid song "Echo" by CIRCRUSH. Theres a good remix by Living Tombstone that I'd recommend! __**

* * *

But the new year brought an unexpected shock at the hands of a familiar and dreaded face.

The day it began, Ray and Peter were in situ at the Firehouse, working on Ecto-1 while Egon and Winston were out on a busting trip upstate. They'd be back later that day, which of course meant the two lovers had some time to devote to themselves. Janine was visiting her sister and wouldnt be back until that evening.

With a grunt, Ray emerged from where he'd been wedged underneath the car, a board on wheels bracing his back. He sat up with a sigh, pushing his goggles back up on his forehead and squinting in the light. Footsteps heralded his partner's approach and a second later Peter was crouched beside him, smiling and wiping a smudge of oil off of his lover's face before planting a kiss on his lips. Ray smiled as they parted and his eyes met Peter's, his heart racing happily as he tangled his fingers in Venkman's hair and kissed him back with equal fervour. Peter's displays of affection had taken on even more meaning after the miracle on Christmas eve.

* * *

 _Refusing to accept that he was stranded by a heavy snowstorm, Peter had fought to get home from his dad's hometown in time for Christmas day, just to keep a promise to his beloved Raymond. With the help of a stranger and Egon's dogged persistence, the two had been reunited in time to celebrate their first Christmas together._

 _After a passionate night in which Peter had coaxed the shy Ray into being the dominant, they'd woken up on Christmas morning and shared ecstatic grins._

 _The whole event had been a laid back and truly happy day, with food, drink and laughter in ample supply. Egon and Janine were closer then ever and Winston announced the until then unknown existence of his girlfriend, Tiyah. Peter would've teased him for more than just a minute, complete with mussing Winston's close cropped hair, if Ray hadn't distracted him with a hug._

 _Winston was able to pinpoint the exact moment Peter's resistance wavered, seeing his face flush incrementally as Ray snuggled against him._

 _"Nooo.." Peter had mock-cried as the urge to tease battled with Raymond's distracting prowess. He squirmed dramatically in Ray's embrace, flailing his arms. "Must...tease….friend.."_

 _"Nope!" Ray chirped, nuzzling behind his ear, making Peter squirm even more and he didn't last a second before he started laughing. Soon everyone was having a giggle and Ray let Peter go, receiving a quick peck on the lips as a reward. Peter looked so happy, Ray really was bowled over by the change in him in the recent months. He smiled so much easier now, laughed more openly then his forced efforts before and had more or less totally relaxed around the others too. He didn't clam up and retreat into himself as quickly as he once had, although he still retained his whip-fast sarcasm and manner of smugness, but there was a humour to it now that Ray often smiled at._

* * *

They parted now, and Ray accepted the hand Peter held out as he stumbled to his feet, looking back at the car.

"Think you got it?" Peter asked, guiding Ray to the seats at the workbench where two cups of coffee waited. Ray nodded, sitting opposite Peter and wrapping his hands around the mug.

"Yup! She's good to go and I've given her a proper tuning so she should be just fine, pending any unforeseen issues."

"Unless we become psychic, that one might just be impossible." Peter chuckled, sipping his coffee and Ray nodded thoughtfully, wishing cars had a way of warning their owners beyond just a few lights on the dashboard. Maybe he could build something..?

His mind wandered after that, so he didn't see the cheeky grin forming on Peter's face as his cunning partner had an idea. Nor did he feel the warm weight of a body perching on his lap, but he noticed pretty fast when Peter snared his lips with a passionate kiss and jolted him out of his thoughts. Ray instinctively put his arms around him so he didn't fall off, raising a curious eyebrow as they parted.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" the red-head teased as he registered the familiar weight and warmth of Peter's body as it sat on his lap.

"You're hot?" Peter said with a rakish grin, making Ray blush cutely as he seen the subtle, amorous gleam in Venkman's eyes. Even after this long together, Peter _STILL_ thought it was adorable the way Ray blushed whenever he was complimented.

They shared a few more kisses before Peter reluctantly slid off Ray's lap to sit back on his own chair. Ray grinned goofily, he felt so carefree around Peter. He really had taught Ray to feel good not just about himself, but about the world at large.

The phone rang just then and Peter rolled his eyes before hopping down from his stool to go answer it. Ray half listened to Peter's voice as he stared into his coffee cup. He really was lucky, wasn't he? He had someone who loved him for all his insecurities, who loved his mind AND body…

A sharp clicking sound caught the edge of his attention and he whipped round, seeing a glint of light in the doorway-

Something in him went cold and before he could help himself he was up and out of his seat, racing over to the door and flinging it open. He seen a pair of neatly polished black loafers vanish around the corner, noting a tear in the sneak stalkers right pants leg.

Back in the firehouse, Peter fell abruptly silent as he observed Ray grab his proton pack and take off at 100 mph, looking oddly upset?

"Peter?" Egon's clipped tones filtered through his shock "you still there?"

"Uhh..."

"Did you hear what I told you?"

" _Buhh_ ….something just happened."

"What kind of thing?" Egon sounded a mix of baffled and moderately annoyed that he wasn't being listened to.

"A **Ray** thing. He just upped and legged it out of here, Egon. I haven't seen him run that fast since he bowled me over at the train station!"

"That is odd, something must have caught his eye. We'll be back shortly, we can discuss the matter then. Stay where you are Peter-"

"But it's **RAY** -"

"I know how much you love him, Peter." Egon drummed his fingers on the edge of the hotel bed as he sat there, hearing the unease in Venkman's voice. "But I need you to remain at the firehouse."

"B-but..." Peter whined, then he sighed, knowing Spengler was right, even though he hated to admit it. "Ok."

"Try not to worry, Peter. If Ray had to take off suddenly, I'm sure there's a good reason and he'll return as soon as he can. Winston and I are heading back to New York now."

Peter set the phone down, walking to the door and peering worriedly outside. What had made Ray run off like that? He was itching to go after him but he'd promised Egon he wouldn't...

* * *

Unaware that Peter was worrying and pacing a groove in the floorboards of the entrance to the firehouse, Ray came to a halt at the intersection, heart tearing at his chest. He'd lost sight of whoever it was that had had been spying on them and he felt ready to collapse or break down, only determination kept him from falling apart.

He knew what that sound was.

The sound of a camera.

Someone had been photographing them when they'd been making out. The thought that someone had been spying on them like Landon had, back when he'd been plotting to abduct Peter, it made Ray feel physically sick.

Now he stood at an intersection with the traffic roaring by, feeling strangely disconnected and numb as he focused singularly on finding whoever it was that'd wilfully intruded on them. He glanced around, where could they have gone-?

A glint of sunlight caught his eye and he seen the logo for NY's biggest newspaper, housed within a massive skyscraper that stretched up towards the chilly blue sky.

Unsure what else to do, Ray headed for it. There were dozens of newspapers in this area alone, but something told him whoever was behind that camera shutter wanted to hurt the Ghostbusters BAD, which meant taking the shots to a big paper for maximum payout, and they didn't come much bigger than this.

* * *

The receptionist looked up as Ray skidded to a halt at her desk. She took in his uniform, smudged oil on his hands and a grease stained rag tucked into his belt and raised an eyebrow. Adding to the man's messy look were the goggles still perched atop his head, making his fly-away red hair stick up. Had his car broken down?

"Can I help mr.." she squinted at his uniform badge "Stantz?"

"I'm looking for-" Ray thought how to phrase it "a friend of mine, its about some photographs he's here to offer the editor- he took the wrong film with him-!"

"Oh!" She beamed "why, you just missed him, he's up on floor 15. He didn't mention anyone else would be showing up..but if as you say, he got the wrong film-."

"Well, I ran all the way here, I knew I couldn't get the car fixed in time so I raced over." Ray beamed as brightly as he could despite the gut-punching fear he felt "but, I'm here now, so no need to worry. I'll find my way up."

She smiled, Ray's unfailingly polite nature finally winning her over and dispelling any doubts about his being there. He was such an honest young man, she thought and really rather cute, too.

She pointed him towards the lift and he took off at a trot, the anxious look reappearing just as he reached the doors. As the lift climbed at what felt like an achingly drudging pace, Ray fought to keep his stomach under control.

* * *

He stumbled out of the lift as it finally reached the 15th floor, getting a few funny looks from various harried interns and staff as he darted along the halls, his frantic gaze shifting from one room to the next. He almost walked right past the office in question, but came to a halt when he heard a voice that sent daggers up his spine.

"Utterly scandalous, I'll tell you-"

Walter Peck. No doubt about it, the guy had been a thorn in the Ghostbuster's sides since the point he'd had a temper tantrum and shut down the first containment grid, thus unleashing all the captured ghosts to cause havoc. He'd been trying to bring them down ever since and now it seemed like he was playing dirty.

Ray spun on his heel, slinking quietly up to the door, where Peck's next words confirmed his fears.

"You can't buy this kind of publicity, the public will be stunned! Just wait until you get them developed, those snooty Ghostbusters wont know what hit them!"

"Ah, now-" the editor Peck was talking to sounded hesitant "these're good men you're talking about. They save a lot of people out there-"

"I can assure you those men have caused just as much trouble as they have "helped." Peck sneered, resentment still simmering inside. "You haven't had to deal with them like I have! But these pictures will open your eyes-"

"Why, you finally work out how to take a picture of your ass, Pecker?"

Peck whipped rounded fast enough to nearly stumble, seeing a red-headed man standing in the doorway. For a brief moment he thought there was something off about his body language, something dangerous, but he pushed it aside, grinning as he strolled up to Ray. As he did, Ray noticed the tear in Waters right pants leg and knew he'd found the culprit. This only strengthened his resolve and he unflinchingly met Walter's gaze as they squared off.

"Dr Stantz." he said in the smarmiest voice he could "I don't recall calling your phony business. Whatever brings you here?"

Ray flicked the screen of the PKE meter he'd pulled from his belt, raising an eyebrow "well, as a matter of fact, I was getting readings for a disgusting monster. But all I see is you. You can draw your own conclusions from that, I'm sure." he managed a cold smile, keeping a lid on his fury. _Barely_.

Peck's hands clenched as he got right into Ray's face, baffled by his blank expression. This one was the most emotional of the bunch, he knew that. Everyone he'd had to interview about the Ghostbusters painted Stantz as being a "gentle giant" sort of guy, who wouldn't hurt a fly unless it was made of ectoplasm or got between the man and his food.

"Why, what're you and your little screw-toy gonna do about it?" he sneered, then made a faint choking noise as in a flash of movement that was hidden from the baffled editors view, Ray grabbed at Peck's collar, the strength of his grip making it hard to breathe.

"I've tolerated you out of the belief that a person is a person, no matter **how** screwed up they are, but even I have my limits. You'll face charges of harassment, stalking and that's just the start, I can think up a whole lot more! The fact that you are a childish, stuck up, bigoted little **WEASEL** is no fault but your own."

Peck opened and shut his mouth, genuinely shocked at this entire outburst. He'd had Venkman pegged as the more violent one, not this guy!

But as he opened his mouth to retort, grasping for the right words, the world suddenly exploded around them in a storm of fury.

* * *

Unaware of the argument between Peck and Stantz, a blissfully unaware intern brought in a box that'd just been dropped off at the front desk. By luck, the floor Peck had come to specialised in running the newspapers "Paranormal" section, which had become a big hit thanks to the Ghostbusters work. People sent in photos and letters, talking about their own belief in the supernatural, along with photos and sometimes objects they claimed ghosts had given them.

This box was one such thing.

The letter said it would become agitated when in the presence of anger, but so far it hadn't reacted the whole trip up in the lift. Sadly, that peace came to an end as the intern walked past the door where Ray and Walter were glaring at one another and the thing inside the box stirred, picking up on traces of cold and unforgiving fury.

By the time the intern reached his desk, the thing inside the containment vessel was awake and eager to get at the source of the anger. So when the blissfully ignorant human set the box down with a thud, the impact was enough to jar the lid open a fraction and that was all it needed.

"Hm?" The intern stared absently as a creepy glow spilled out of the gap in the box, then screamed as the lid was flung off with great force and a blast of air and psychic force rocketed through the entire office, sending up a blizzard of paperwork.

* * *

Ray felt something punch him between the shoulder blades and he gasped, slamming into the carpet with enough force to wind him. Coughing, he dragged himself to his feet, scanning his surrounding for the source.

Peck groaned, rubbing his head as he sat up, what had happened? An earthquake or something?

A shrill bleeping cut through the mass of screams and stampeding footsteps that welled up in the wake of the psi blast.

It was Ray's PKE meter, dropped when the impact had struck and now lay several feet away. Ray scrambled over and scooped it up, his eyes widening as he translated the readings flashing on the screen.

"What does it mean?" the editor stared at Ray, who had gone still as a statue, his face white as milk.

"It **MEANS** we're dealing with a nasty class of spirit, these readings are off the scale." Ray shut the meter off, unhitching his neutron gun and simultaneously starting up the proton pack. He turned towards the door, but just as swiftly backed up as he seen what filled the doorway.

A malevolent black cloud, with glinting blue eyes.

"Your fury..." it said, staring at the three occupants, "I must feed-"

"Haven't you ever heard of take-out?" Ray snapped, dragging its attention back to him. The clouds eyes narrowed as it took in Ray's defiant stance and sensed the power crackling in the air.

But he was just one pesky human…

"I don't need your light, I want the darkness."

Ray seen its gaze slide to where a speechless Peck was trying to scuttle away. He didn't understand what this ghost meant exactly but he knew he had to stop it, even if it _DID_ mean saving Peck's sorry ass.

The spirit shot for Peck at the same time Ray did. Walter let out a high-pitched yelp as Ray hauled him up off the floor and threw the both of them aside, vaulting them over the desk to a heap on the carpet. Looking back through the legs of the desk, he seen the ghostly smoke hit the floor where he'd been sat previously, leaving a black scorch mark. That had nearly been him….

"Move!" he snapped out of his daze as the Ghostbuster clambered to his knees and peered over the desk. He raised his proton gun with one hand and aimed it at the glass, glancing at Peck out of the corner of his eye "when I fire, RUN!"

Peck was all set to demand an answer as to WHY he should listen to anything a Ghostbuster had to say when Stantz fired the proton gun. The beam shattered the plate glass window, transforming it into a blizzard of sparkling shards and Walter felt a hand shove between his shoulder blades, forcing him to his feet. He instinctively ran for his life, hearing the beam fire again, the air sizzling with the heat. He didn't look back, just shot straight for the elevators where he hammered franticly at the buttons, but it swiftly became obvious that none of them were going to arrive any time soon. Those that hadn't fled were hiding behind overturned desks.

The shadow creature soon realised it'd been tricked and avoided Ray's proton beam long enough to slip out of range and hone in on the source. The human was close, it hadn't escaped his clutches just yet...

Ray ran after it, ducking barely in time as he seen a metal cabinet soaring towards him. He ducked the barrage of objects as he struggled catch up, resorting to blasting the projectiles apart with the proton beam in the end. Up ahead, he heard Walter scream and picked up the pace, careening round the corner to where the corridor opened out onto a bank of lifts. The ghost was holding Peck up by his throat, its icy blue eyes glinting evilly.

"Such bitterness….you really are a prime delicacy.." it cackled and Ray realised now, that was how it hunted, on rage and fury and the darker side of human nature.

He needed to get the thing away from Walter, for as much as he hated the man, he couldn't be responsible for his death!

He closed his eyes, recollecting all the feelings that'd cycled through him as he'd pursued Walter here. The fear, the thought of losing the happiness he and Peter shared, of losing his job and friends...

He felt his heart begin to ache as he allowed all the negative feeling to well up, feelings he personally prided himself on not giving in to often, the sensation felt like he was drowning.

Walter was sure he was about to die or pass out when the thing holding him sniffed the air and turned its head to look at the Ghostbuster standing just down the hall. Even in his half-conscious state, Walter seen something was very wrong with Stantz. His emotionless facade earlier had just been a front, for now his expression was utterly blank, all trace of his kinder nature seemingly erased.

"Interesting, corrupted innocence..." the foggy ghost said, dropping Walter to the carpet with a thud as it studied the Ghostbuster, then began floating towards the red-head. Peck seen Ray put a hand to his chest, as if his heart hurt, he was shaking visibly...

The ghost grinned as it watched its new target "Yes, unleash it. All your kindness was for nothing, the world isn't willing to stop taking your fragile hope from you, is it?"

-Just a little closer, I have one shot at this...- Ray said nothing, but his vision blurred as he forced his heart to entertain the worst case scenarios, fears he'd stopped thinking about since the Landon incident.

Ray closed his eyes, hitching a shaky breath as he felt the ghost draw near, felt the air grow icy around him. His mind felt heavy from the despair flooding him, the ghosts proximity-based poisonous influence was making his body turn to lead and he let the neutron wand fall from his grip..

Peck stared in shock as he got his breath back, watching the Ghostbuster drop the weapon and just stand there. What was he doing?! Whatever it was had drawn the ghosts attention away from Walter-

-He's hurting himself to distract the ghost.-

The penny dropped and Walter could only stare in dazed shock as he seen the flickering lights catch and glint off the red-headed buster's tears as they fell. Even from this distance, the pain he was in was clear..

Peck's brain told him to run while the spook was distracted and he staggered to his feet, but he didn't make it very far before a smoky tentacle whipped out of the shadows and grabbed him by the arm, throwing him clean across the room. He hit a window and felt the glass cut into his body as he crashed to the carpet, blood gushing from a cut in his arm. He felt sick and dizzy as the world began to go grey...

Ray jolted and cried out, realising his ruse hadn't been successful, it'd still detected Walter-

The fog ghost covered the remaining space between them in an instant, one wispy tentacle razing across Ray's cheek, leaving a stinging sensation behind. Its empty eyes locked onto Ray and it grinned. Its prey was defenceless. Time to feast...

But the grin didn't last long as Ray pretended to stumble back, then nudged the neutron wand with his foot, flipping it into the air and catching it in his hands.

* * *

Walter heard a voice shouting something incoherent, then there was a blaze of light and a scream of fury. He dimly seen the shadow thrashing and fighting in the grip of a blinding beam, seen it scrabble for purchase on the walls, its claws raking deep gouges in the plaster. But it was to no avail and soon its screams were cut off and silence fell, the alarm filtering in to fill the gap. Peck could dimly see a shape running towards him, a dishevelled blur that was shouting something he couldn't make out…

Ray felt a twinge of satisfaction as he seen the trap snap shut. Then he heard a groan and his gaze went to where Walter lay. At first glance he seemed fine, then Ray seen the damaged lighting reflecting off the blood pooling from his arm, it looked _really_ bad.

He ran over, dumping his proton pack as he did. He shrugged his jumpsuit down enough so he could tie the sleeves at his waist. Underneath he wore jeans and a long sleeved shirt. He tore at the sleeve fabric, it tore easily and he quickly tied it around Walters arm. The guy was half-awake, unfocused and dangerously close to passing out.

"Hay!" Ray said sharply "stay awake!"

He hollered for someone to call an ambulance. He sat there, shock and exhaustion battling for control as he kept pressure on Walter's arm, the guy was barely coherent, mumbling something or another as Ray sat beside him.

* * *

The next few hours were a blur to Ray. The ambulance arrived and both he and Walter were taken to the nearest hospital. Ray checked out as fine aside from shock and a few scrapes, and soon found himself sitting in the hall, drumming his fingers on the trap that held the foggy ghost. He'd had to let his darkest side out to tempt it towards him so he could catch it, did that make him a bad person? Was the world darker then he imagined... **was** his hope naive?

He seen the doctor standing in front of him now and jolted to his feet, almost overbalancing as his proton pack shifted from the movement. The doctor steadied him and cleared his throat.

"That guy, Peck, is he-?" Ray asked, still worried about his opponent, despite his anger at him.

"He's stable, but he's lost a lot of blood and is going to need a transfusion. I'm on my way to see if we can locate a match now."

As the doctor walked away, Ray blurted a question that flashed to the front of his mind, a fading effort from his better self.

"How do we find out who's a match? I-if I..."

The doctor stopped, looking back at him as he considered his notes, it was worth a try!

"Follow me, Dr Stantz." he said at last.

* * *

Ray was surprised when all three of his friends showed up at the hospital that evening. Soon as the door shut behind them, Peter raced over to the bed and pulled Ray into his arms.

Ray blinked, his face buried in Peter's shoulder, Venkman's warm arms holding him tight. Peter was shaking, was he upset?

"What the heck were you up to?" Peter said as he drew back to examine Ray's pale, tired face.

"I-it was- it's a long story Peter." Ray suddenly found himself sniffling, caught between rage and grief of some kind.

Peter was startled as Ray suddenly broke down, the red-head resting his head on Venkman's shoulder as he quietly cried. Peter froze, his mind scrabbling for someone or something to blame- then he recovered his wits and rubbed Ray's back gently, murmuring "it's alright, cutie." over and over.

"Ray, what happened man?" Winston asked, as concerned as the others to see Ray acting so odd. Something had shaken him up bad…

Ray lifted his head as the others crowd around him, seeing three concerned faces looking down at him. Hands patted his shoulders, squeezed his hands and assured him he was safe with them here. Eventually, he was able to slow his tears enough to speak;

"The thing I caught, it capitalised on emotion." Ray stumbled to explain "I guess it messed with my head a little."

"Why're you still in here? The doc said you weren't hurt, but that he was keeping you in for a few hours."

"It's...it's because I..." Ray trailed off, suddenly wanting nothing more that second than to go home. He promised he'd explain it when they were back at HQ and Egon went in search of the doc so they could get Ray discharged.

* * *

Peter sat in back with Ray, holding his hand gently as they drove home. Ray found he couldn't say a word, just squeezed Peter's hand every now and again, his tired eyes meeting Venkman's worried ones each time. He tried to smile, but the task was almost impossible…

The others were stunned when they finally sat Ray down and had him explain the whole story. Most concerning was how, throughout the entire telling, Ray had been awfully subdued, his voice barely above a monotone. When they went pale in shock at the mention of the photo's Walter had tried to leak, Ray didn't even blink, just continued talking.

"You offered to _SAVE_ his sorry ass?! What were you _thinking_?" Peter blurted as Ray finished his tale and Ray flinched, twisting his hands in his lap.

"Peter." Egon said sharply, frowning at the brunette.

"I'm sorry, but if there's one person who sorry ass isn't worth such a gift, it's **HIM**!" Peter threw his arms up in the air in a show of frustration as he glowered at the blonde.

"I...I just..." Ray trailed off, swallowing uneasily.

Peter sighed, turning back and kneeling in front of Raymond. He clasped Ray's hands in his and looked into his eyes.

"I know, Ray. You couldn't stand by when someone needed help, even the worst person in New York."

"Do you know what happened to the photos he alluded to?" Egon asked as Ray wiped at his eyes. The shaken Ghostbuster shook his head soundlessly, prompting Peter to squeeze his hands again. Something about the hopelessness in Ray's eyes worried him, he hadn't seen him this bad, since…

Ray said he wanted to go lie down then, unable to face his friends' sympathy. Peter offered to come with him, but Ray just faked a smile and said he was fine.

Peter watched his lover trudge off, expression set in worry.

"What is it, Peter?" Egon asked as he came to stand next to him. Peter glanced at him, expression drawn and worried.

"This is _BAD_ , Egon. I haven't seen him this bad since the run in at Morrisville. His old rival tried to tear him down, big time, and what he said really hurt Ray. He became so withdrawn, I was worried that creep had done permanent damage."

"So he's withdrawing?" Egon frowned.

Peter nodded, tapping his foot on the floor before heading for the stairs "I didn't let a creep upset him last time, I sure as hell aint gonna let it happen now."

* * *

But Raymond wasn't in the main bedroom OR the spare, where they often spent their nights after making love.

Peter finally found Ray in his office, of all places. He was sat on the floor by his bookcase with his knees tucked up to his chest, trying to make himself as invisible as he could. Peter sat beside him, wrapping his arms around him as best he could with Ray hunched up like that.

"It's OK." he whispered "I'm sorry I yelled at you, my Raymond."

"It's not that." Ray whispered.

"What is it?" Peter caressed his cheek gently "tell me, cutie."

Ray sniffled then haltingly told the story of how he'd attracted the ghosts attention.

"It felt awful, Peter. I've always tried to see the best in people-"

"I know, it's one of the things I love about you." Peter reminded him, garnering a small smile from Ray.

"B-but I had to let all that ugliness out to stop it from killing Peck. Even then, I feel like I failed. There was a lot fo blood, Peter, i-it was all over my hands. I understand how scared you said you felt when that ghost clawed my shoulder. Thinking someone might die in front of you, it.."

"I know." Peter murmured, kissing Ray's forehead "but you're exhausted and scared. You need to rest, my sweet Ray-"

"I can't!" Ray blurted, suddenly surging to his feet and pacing angrily "he wants to ruin our lives, Peter! How can you be so calm-?"

He shook his head, still pacing, feeling like so much was bottled up inside.

"Who knows what he was planning to do with those photos?! You know the worst part? Part of me wishes I hadn't tried to save him. How cold can you get…."

He wiped at his eyes, hands clenched so tightly it hurt "I don't know what I was before, but I'm pretty sure wanting to wish for something like that makes me a monster. I'm no better than he is-!"

In a fit of fury, he suddenly swung and punched the closest wall, leaving a sizeable dent and causing the skin on his knuckles to split from the impact, blood speckling the wallpaper. If Peter had caught a glimpse of his face, he'd have seen a flash of almost unearthly blue light in Ray's eyes. It was gone as fast as it appeared and Ray felt his stomach churn...

" **RAY**!" Peter cried, heart in his mouth as he leapt to his feet, striding over to Ray and spinning the red-head to face him.

"Enough!" he barked and Ray looked up at him, fresh tears of fury balancing on his lashes. He was shaking badly, utter desperation in his eyes as he looked up at Peter.

"We all have thoughts like that. Heck, if you seen half the fantasies I've entertained regarding kicking Peck's sorry ass, you'd be weirded out by how bloodthirsty I am. But that's all they are- thoughts. It doesn't make you a monster, Raymond. Acting on the thoughts- maybe, but you are NOTHING like that assmunch. You forced yourself to feel bad to try protect, like you always do."

Ray blinked mutely, causing the precarious tears to fall now. Peter seen them fall down Rays face to soak his collar and his heart broke a little in worry. He pulled the red-head into his arms, wishing he could take all that misery away.

"It's gonna be alright." he vowed, but Ray just shook his head.

"What if he exposes everything, Peter-? How can you not be scared?!"

"Because," Peter said, kissing just beneath Ray's ear, one of his weak spots "I've long since decided you're worth all the hassle in the world. If I have you, I have hope, that's all there is to it."

Ray felt the first stirrings of hope himself as he looked up at Peter now, the sentiment offering a ray of hope.

"And you KNOW none of the others will let something like that slide. Janine will tear Peck a new one and neither Egon nor Winston will let anyone stop us doing what we do? You know why, because we're awesome!"

He stroked Ray's hair away from his face as he spoke, then gently placed his lips against the other man's. He felt Ray's hands grip his sleeves tightly as the shaken Ghostbuster slowly responded to the affection.

Peter kissed Ray's nose as he let him go.

"It'll be alright. You're not alone, my sweet Raymond. Ok?"

Ray nodded shakily, happy to accept the absence of misery for awhile. Peter's sweet assurances chased away the cold, made him feel better…

"C'mon, lets take care of that." Ray blinked as Peter indicated his injured hand. He could feel the first stirrings of pain now his shock was wearing off and he nodded, allowing Peter to steer him to the bathroom.

* * *

There, he perched on the edge of the bathtub as Peter rummaged in the cupboard for some bandages. He watched Peter in a quiet daze as the brunette tenderly cleaned the blood away, then wrapped bandages around his hand.

"There, all set." Peter stroked Ray's cheek with his fingertips as he stood up, stepping over to thew sink and washing any smudges of blood off. As he turned to dry his hands, Ray stepped up and wrapped his arms around Peter, resting his head against his chest. They stood like that for several minutes, not speaking a word, just holding onto one another.

At last they parted and Peter escorted Ray to the spare room, leaving it very clear he wasn't going to let regret or sadness bother his Raymond that night.

* * *

Ray clung tightly to Peter as they lay together, afraid he'd lose grip on reality if he did so with Venkman's body. Peter had fallen asleep a short while ago, but Ray found himself resurfacing from the thin veil of sleep he drifted into, feeling uneasy. Over Peter's shoulder, he gazed at the way the moon hung like a pearlescent orb in the sky. Something felt broken inside and he didn't know how to fix it…

Peter made a faint grumbling noise, nuzzling instinctively into Ray's hair. This made Ray's heart ache a little less and he closed his eyes, the scent of Peter's skin chasing the shadows away for a moment…

* * *

But he slept little that night and by the time dawn rolled around he couldn't lie still any longer. He reluctantly freed himself from Peter's hold, slipping off to the shower. The thrum of the water drowned out the noise that seemed to fill his head, his heart seemed to be beating a little irregularly-

The door opened and Ray whipped round, an angry snarl rising in his throat. But he stopped just in time, feeling shocked at himself. What had he been about to say?

"Raymond?" Peter stuck his head round the door and blushed as he seen Ray standing in the shower, staring blankly at him. Normally Ray would blush and duck modestly behind the shower curtain but today he just blinked vacantly.

"Peter?" his expression cleared a little after a second as he caught up.

Peter held up a finger "hold on, I'm shamelessly ogling."

"Ogling wha- OH!" Ray yelped and hid behind the shower curtain, his face red "Why didn't you say something?"

"One; I've seen you naked plenty of times, heck, I'M usually the reason you end up that way." Peter grinned smugly "two; **phwoar**. Three….I lost track. You're gorgeous."

Ray blushed and stared at the floor a moment before dropping the shower curtain and stepping demurely out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around himself in one fluid motion, stepping up to Peter. He reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind Venkman's ears, brushing his fingers across Peter's cheek and smiling softly. The brief anger that'd been there earlier was gone, replaced by the strong affection Venkman triggered.

A sudden surge of need took over and he kissed Peter deeply. He heard Venkman moan softly, then the other Ghostbuster's hands were resting on his back, pulling Ray against him as he he hungrily returned the kiss.

Ray freed one arm to reach past Peter, locking the bathroom door with a practised ease. Venkman's eyebrows rose, but a seductive grin was already gracing his features. He kissed Ray, pressing eagerly against the red-head as he felt Ray's agile fingers undo the buttons on his pyjamas.

They heard Winston and Egon's voices drift up from below, it sounded like they were having a lively chuckle about something they'd watched on TV last night. They knew those two would be occupied for awhile longer...

Their union was passionate but brief, they knew they couldn't waste too much time. But they'd both succumbed to the need for skin to skin contact, for that delicious intimacy and neither wished to stop.

* * *

"Wow. I don't know what's gotten into you my sweet Raymond, but I LIKE it!" Peter whispered huskily as they parted and Ray blushed faintly.

"You need another wash, shall we?" Peter gestured to the shower, smiling as Ray grasped the out-held hand and happily joined him.

* * *

"You took your sweet time, you two. I know Peter's the king of laying in, but.." Winston looked at the duo, seeing Ray grin sheepishly.

Ray coughed and rubbed the back of his neck as his friends stared at him.

"I guess I just needed some extra rest?" he bleated.

"Yeah, I get it man. After yesterday and all.."

Winston's words made Ray recall the darkness that'd been lurking in his mind, his memories of that ghost….

He shivered, feeling unexpectedly cold all of a sudden.

"You OK, Ray?" Egon asked, seeing him shudder.

"I'm fine, really. Just hungry..." Ray smiled, feeling the chill recede as he focused on the warmth of the room and the companions surrounding him. Above all, he focused on Peter's warmth, it was as if he was more keenly aware of his presence than ever.

"Hey!" Janine came bounding up the steps, holding out a newspaper "there's a story about you, Ray-"

Ray felt his stomach shift and the burn of acid in the back of his throat-

But then he looked at the paper. The shot showed a still from a security camera, showing him just at the moment where he'd opened fire with the weapon after luring the ghost close to him.

"GHOSTBUSTER ENDS GHOSTS RUN." the paper declared, below that was written "Valiant hero saves life of government worker (unidentified).

"I see..." Ray said faintly.

"You don't look too happy, what's wrong?" Janine glanced at Peter, who subtly shook his head and mouthed "don't ask."

"Well, it's another one for the scrap book," she said, tucking the paper under her arm and producing the itinerary for that day. Ray snapped back to himself after a moment, feeling less sick but still worried…

Ray was his usual earnest self that day, at least on the surface. Peter hoped it meant some sort of recovery even though he knew Ray couldn't forget the issue looming over them. Peter checked every newspaper he seen throughout the morning, but none of them were running stories about the Ghostbusters love lives.

* * *

There was a slight break in Rays carefully maintained cheery mask, just as they were wrapping up a case of a possessed automotive. Having saved the young and clearly over-entitled young man from his possessed car, they'd had to do significant damage to the vehicle to free him. But instead of being grateful, he immediately began whining about the **CAR** , which put Ray's back up.

"Do you know the end resulted of a human body if it's trapped in a rapidly compressing hunk of metal? Because I can guarantee you wouldn't be so smug if we hadn't come along. You'd probably resemble something a crime scene investigator would have to clean up."

The young man stumbled back, eyes moving to the red-headed member of the team, who stepped forward now, arms folded and a cold glare on his face.

"Well I never-"

"Obviously." Ray snapped, silencing him again as he stepped even closer to the young man "you need to rethink the way you see the real value of the world around you. A car? Pfft, you can buy another one, no doubt you don't even care about the one you've lost. _YOUR_ only concern is something of _YOURS_ had been lost, never mind the fact it could've been your _LIFE_ in place of your blasted car!"

"Whoa, Ray.." Peter said softly under his breath, glancing surreptitiously at the other two, who looked as surprised at Ray's outburst as he was.

"So why don't you cut the self-indulgent whining and be grateful for the fact you're _ALIVE_. That's the one thing your money can't replace. Do you understand?"

The man nodded, utterly shocked. He looked at his car now, realising the irritated red-head had a point, but nobody had been bold enough to yell at him like that before. Maybe he was just in shock, but he fancied he saw a flash of lightning blue in the mans eyes as he faced him once more…

"Peter, the bill?" Ray said coolly as he turned to leave without a backwards glance. Peter, who'd been writing it out when Ray had blown his fuse, hurriedly finished up and handed it to the speechless young car owner.

Egon and Winston stared mutely at Ray as he stalked past them, still scowling faintly.

"Okayy...somebody needs lunch. You always get cranky when you're hungry." Peter fell in beside Ray, poking his side. The contact made Ray jolt and the fog that'd taken over his mind popped like a soap bubble and he blinked blankly at Peter.

"Say what?" he said absently.

Peter studied him closely, a frown on his face "you feeling alright Ray?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? Only I have **NEVER** seen you give someone quite such a hiding as you just gave that kid."

Ray ducked his head as they reached Ecto-1, looking unhappy.

"I didn't mean to." he whispered, abruptly looking on the verge of crying.

"It's OK man, I think that selfish little brat needed a good telling off. Lets go home, we're all pretty hungry." Winston patted Ray on the back, earning a wavery smile.

Ray nodded, but he seemed oddly subdued the ride home. As they sped along quiet streets, Peter reached up to caress Ray's cheek with his fingertips and Ray jolted, a look of guilt on his face for a split second before it softened and he smiled at Peter.

"It's OK." Peter said softly, lowering his voice so only Ray would hear "Don't fret, Raymond."

Ray smiled, then surprised Peter again by showing that less shy side and kissing him. Peter fancied he could feel the sheer crush of emotions, the worry and frustration housed in Ray's mind in that one kiss. It almost took his breath away and when Ray let him go, Peter was the one blushing.

"So damn cute." he said softly, making Ray smile.

Winston glanced in the rear view mirror and seen the two sitting close, figuring Peter was trying to cheer Ray up. It was strange for Ray to be so snippy, but the threat of those photos Peck had alluded to had to be the cause.

* * *

That night, as the lovers once again adjourned to the spare bedroom to share the night together, Peter noticed Ray felt a little chilly to the touch. He asked if the man was feeling alright and Ray nodded, managing a smile.

"Rayyy." Peter said, sensing he was lying.

"W-well, maybe a little cold." Ray said, then squeaked as Peter scooped him up and carried him to bed. Their lips brushed as Peter set him down atop the bed.

"Shall we warm up?" Peter asked, a gleam of desire in his eyes. Ray blushed, flashing back to the night of Christmas Eve, where they'd been reunited in time for the holiday. Once they'd arrived home, Peter had asked this same question of Ray..

"That was the most amazing night," Peter whispered as he sat on the bed with Ray, "and that was **THE** most amazing org-"

Ray squeaked and blushed as he remembered said climax too. Peter had told Ray "I'm all yours" and told Ray not to hold back.

Peter kissed him now, sending a thrill up Ray's back and he heard himself groan urgently, the heat from the kiss warming his body.

"Let me take care of you, my sweet Raymond." Peter whispered and Ray was happy to surrender to Peter's more than capable hands….

* * *

Peter held Ray close as they lay wrapped in the covers, the heat from the afterglow of their lovemaking chasing away any chill that might've bothered Ray.

The red-head was dozing against Peter's chest now, breathing slow and even as Peter gently stroked his hair. Ray looked so adorably innocent, it made Peter go tense with fury that Peck would threaten him. If Ray's current heartbreak got any worse-

"Peter..?" Ray's sleepy voice interrupted his fuming, and he blinked, looking into Ray's sleepy brown eyes.

"Raymond?" he asked "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but you're angry." Ray said bluntly.

"How did you-?"

"Because your body tenses just so, I remember it from Morrisville. Remember how mad you were at Favish..?"

Peter nodded, stroking Ray's hair gently.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked, shuffling how he lay so he could kiss Peter's cheek, hearing Venkman sigh happily.

"I'm just mad at that creep. I still don't see why you saved his sorry ass, but then, you DO have the biggest heart in all New York, I'm sure of it."

Ray smiled faintly, but it seemed a fragile smile and easily broken.

"I just have an inbuilt urge to kick the ass of anyone who bothers those I care about. That ass is threatening the one I love, he better not think he's getting away with it."

Ray looked flattered by Peters defence of him, also the fact he openly stated he LOVED Ray. When they'd exchanged those sweet words at Christmas, Ray had thought it the best present he'd ever been given.

He kissed Peter now, wanting to help him relax. Peter happily returned the kiss and bit by bit his anger faded, replaced by the contentment lying together with his Raymond always brought. They eventually settled down to sleep, as close as they could get.

At least Peter did anyway. Ray found himself unable to sleep for long, drifting awake with the constant feeling something was bothering him but he couldn't name it..

* * *

He was soon starting to feel the effects of this loss of sleep, his appetite beginning to slip as the days progressed. This alarmed the others, who had never seen Ray so despondent before, even though he emphatically denied it. Something was wrong with their usually cheery, upbeat Ray Stantz and the other three ghostbusters weren't buying his excuses.

That evening, Egon insisted on taking a blood sample to check Rays levels. Ray mutely nodded, sitting still as Egon took a sample of blood, asking him various questions as he did. Ray answered as best he could, but insisted he was just tired, really.

"Even so, Ray," Egon looked serious as he glanced at the red-head, who didn't seem to quite meet his eye "I think you should take tomorrow off, give yourself time to relax, you've been very tense the last few days. I know you don't think it'll help, but I insist you TRY."

"Alright." Ray sighed at last "I'll try. Thanks Egon."

"No worries, just take it easy." Egon smiled as reassuringly as he could as Ray returned it, but he still seemed listless as he drifted out the door.

Out in the hall, Ray nearly smacked right into Winston, who steadied him before he face-planted onto the floor.

"Feeling OK, man?" he asked and Ray nodded, feeling guilty for being such a burden. -They pity you, you know that?- the thought sprung, unbidden, into his head and he felt a flash of anger, felt a jabbing pain in his head. He winced and Winston frowned, thinking he seen something in Ray's eyes a moment, but then the Ghostbuster stepped back, smiling in his usual friendly fashion.

"I'm OK, just a headache. I'm gonna go vegetate on the couch."

"Good idea, bud. Hey, Pete's down there too, I'm sure he'll be happy for the company."

Ray flushed in that way he did whenever anyone teased him about his relationship with Venkman. He smiled at Winston then darted off to join Peter on the couch.

* * *

Naturally, as soon as Ray appeared in the doorway, Peter patted the couch beside him, beckoning Ray to lie beside him. Ray cosied up to the warmth of Peter's body and felt suddenly tired, as if his batteries were drained. He rapidly dozed off, safely ensconced in Peter's embrace.

Peter blinked, studying Ray, the TV completely forgotten. Was his Raymond alright? It was odd for him to fall asleep out of nowhere like this…

"Hay Pete-"

"Ssh!"

"Huh?" Winston blinked, then seen Peter was indicating Ray, who'd fallen asleep propped up against Venkman's side.

"Cute." Winston chuckled, but seen Peter looked concerned "what's up?"

"He just up and dozed off on me. Not that I mind, but Ray seems very listless lately, I'm worried about him."

"It's because of that ass of a man, isn't it?" Winston asked and Peter nodded, feeling his fury bubble to the surface. Ray flinched in his sleep, uttering a quiet whimper, so Peter relaxed, sighing in relief when Ray didn't stir.

"He can tell when I'm ticked off, it seems. I don't wanna wake him."

Winston had to admit later that the connection those two shared was pretty sweet. They seemed so well tuned to one another, Peter could see through Ray's attempts to hide his real feelings and Ray seemed to detect when Peter was silently stewing on something.

Egon came downstairs and was shushed by both conscious Ghostbusters.

"Ah, he's asleep. Right then, this can wait." he said quietly. Ray slept on, oblivious to all of this.

* * *

Eventually, Peter woke him and ushered him off to bed. To his surprise and delight, Ray grasped his hand and asked if they could bed together again that night? Peter wasn't sure what was going on, but he got the feeling Ray was feeling vulnerable and needed the security of their nights together. So he squeezed Ray's hand back, nodding wordlessly and seeing the relief in Ray's eyes as they diverted to the spare room.

As they got undressed, Ray suddenly pressed close to Peter's chest and looped his arms around Peter's waist. Given the only thing between them was a single layer of clothing, it was quickly shed as they got close.

-Wow, Ray's libido is certainly on maximum the last few days..- Peter mused as they slipped under the covers after they'd finished. Ray's expressive eyes caught his and the red-head blushed, showing that adorkably shy side of him. Peter grinned back, praised Ray's stamina and kissed the man when he went red and squeaked.

* * *

Egon, as always, stayed up late to finish running tests and fell asleep in his lab, slumped over his desk. The klaxon went off, startling him as he blundered awake.

In their shared bed, Peter sighed and looked at his sexy bed partner.

"You stay put." he cautioned as Ray tried to scramble out bed after him.

"B-but..." Ray said plaintively. Peter knelt by the edge of the bed, stroking Ray's sweat-tousled hair and kissing his nose lightly.

"Nope. You need to relax. Watch TV, take a walk if you must, but above all, relax. Doctor Venkman's orders."

Ray chuckled, closing the gap between them and kissing Peter.

"Alright, doctor." he teased, the early morning light make his eyes gleam.

"Good boy." Peter chuckled, kissing him once more before before zipping up his jumpsuit and tearing out of the room at 100mph.

Ray sighed and flopped back against the pillows, already feeling bored. He knew Egon was just looking out for him, but still...did he HAVE to be treated like a child?

-Well, people always point out how child-like you are.- a snide voice said in Ray's head. Ray shrugged, as if that'd dismiss it, pulling the covers over his head.

* * *

But his simmering anger at being treated like a child soon took root and he felt like it was drowning him inside. With a snarl of irritation he finally got out of bed, dressed in his regular clothes and walked down to his office. He stopped before the boxes of comics, relics of his childhood.

-Nobody will take you seriously as long they exist..- that same doubting voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Ray felt part of him close off as he took in the things he'd once loved with distaste now.

With a snarl, he wrenched the shelf clean from the wall, watching as it and its contents thudded to the floor, a flurry of comic books settling over the room.

Downstairs in reception, Janine didn't bat an eyelid. Explosions and loud thuds were nothing unusual around here, so the loud thud was probably just Ray tinkering with something. If they were lucky, it'd only be another hole in the wall. Egon was prone to doing this, having demolished several walls, he'd started teaching himself to repair them, so as to save money.

If she'd known what that thud signified, she'd have been far more worried…

Upstairs in his office, Ray felt his anger mount, sweeping the carefully arranged hardback collections of comics to the floor as he stood before his desk.

-This is the reason they mock you.- that cold voice said, as Ray stood there, hands clenched tightly. Then he abruptly grabbed his coat and ran out of his office.

* * *

He headed downstairs and was at the door when Janine finally spotted him.

"Oh, Ray- Egon said not to overexert yourself. He was worried you'd-"

"I'd what, Janine? Live off of a leash?"

Janine blinked, startled by the hurt in Rays voice. But not only that, there was a momentary glimpse of something in his eyes that froze her usual rebuke and before she could compose herself Ray was gone, the door rebounding off the hinges at the force of his exit.

Hearing a burbling sound, Janine peered under her desk and seen Slimer hiding there. She coaxed him out with a donut and addressed him directly.

"What's wrong Slimer, why are you hiding?"

Slimer finished the donut then babbled something about "Ray" and "not Ray."

"Yeah, he's acting odd. I've never known that boy to fly off the handle like that, even when he thought his favourite comic series was being cancelled!"

She walked over to the door to close it, but pulled her hand back when the handle felt like solid ice. Looking at it, she seen frost was coating the thing.

"Now that's just odd, it's not THAT cold, outside OR in. Something's wrong..." her stomach sank "..and it's all connected to Ray!"

She ran to the radio to call Egon, Ray could be in big trouble, who knew where he'd gone off to in that state…

* * *

While Ray was back at HQ being fussed over by his friends and cuddled senseless by Venkman, Walter Peck was recovering in hospital.

When he was well enough to see the doctor, he asked what'd happened, as his memories appeared to have escaped along with his blood.

"You suffered a severe injury to your arm, which caused you to lose a _LOT_ of blood, mr Peck. You were fortunate however, we were able to find a blood donor almost straight away."

"Who...how?" Peck asked, a bit bewildered by this.

"Just rest for now." the doctor said "we'll discuss this when you're better recovered."

Another day passed and Peck chanced asking who'd saved him with the blood donation as he opened a card from the mayors office.

"I'm afraid that's not information I can disclose, the donator wished it to remain private."

"Right." Peck was puzzled, why hide their identity?

* * *

He wouldn't have pursued the matter if the doctor hadn't been careless the next day. He left his clipboard when he was called to an emergency and Peck glanced around before grabbing it and rifling through the paperwork until his eyes settled on a donor consent form. His brain pretty much locked up as he stared at the signature at the bottom of the form.

Surely that couldn't be right..?

He set the clipboard down, feeling suddenly lightheaded.

* * *

He was discharged the same day Ray snapped at Janine and stormed out of HQ, not realising their paths were going to cross. Or what would be unleashed when they did.

For the time being, he just drifted, lost in thought. His mind kept returning to the signature he'd seen on the bottom of that form.

 _ **R. Stantz.**_

There was no mistaking it, he'd seen that signature on paperwork during his involvement with the Ghostbusters. The evidence was clear that, alongside stopping him from bleeding to death, Dr Stantz had offered to be checked as a blood donor match to save the hospital from starting a search.

Peck came to a halt at an intersection, feeling confused. This was the guy he'd been so eager to see humiliated in the papers. He'd resented ALL those pesky Ghostbusters from the get go, not just that egotistical ass, Venkman. So when he'd seen the door to their HQ open just a fraction like it had been, he'd crept over, reaching for the camera he'd brought. Just in case he found evidence they WERE frauds…

Instead he'd seen Venkman flirting and getting close to the red-headed doctor. For a moment he'd hesitated, seeing how genuinely HAPPY they were. But his desire for revenge on Venkman and co had been too strong to resist so he'd taken some photos then raced away, laughing in anticipation of his victory.

But somehow Stantz had tracked him, showing up at the newspaper and interrupting Pecks big reveal to the editor. That was when the world had exploded as a ghost was let loose. Stantz had tackled him out of the way of the ghost, trying to save him, even after what he'd done.

-How can he be so forgiving? Does he have no realisation of how cut-throat politics is?- he mused, then shrugged to himself as he walked along the street –Yet he STILL..-

He stopped as he seen a flash of a familiar face in the crowd, walking towards him. It couldn't be…?

But it _WAS_. Doctor Stantz, in the flesh. He was wearing just a light winter coat, no scarf gloves or hat to keep him warm, yet he didn't seem affected by the chilly morning air, in fact he didn't seem interested in anything surrounding him. He just stared emotionelssly at the pavement as he dodged passers by on autopilot, barely reacting.

Walter stepped in front of the figure, clearing his throat and Ray pulled up short, eyes widening and a smidge of fear flashing over them as he recognised Peck.

Then his gaze went distant and he made to duck around Peck but the mayors aide grabbed his arm. He felt the muscles in Stantz's arm go tense and going by the look on his face, his whole body was following suit..

"What do you want?" Stantz said, the blankness in his expression a little unnerving now.

"I need to talk to you." Peck said at last, nodding at the public library opposite. They'd installed a fancy cafe on one of the upper floors since the Ghostbusters last excursion there, and Peck had often gone there during his break.

Ray stared at him for a long few seconds, then finally nodded, relaxing a little when Peck released his arm. As he ascended the stairs, Peck was aware of Ray's looming presence behind him. Something was off about this guy…

Ray faltered a moment, why was he assuming Peck was up to no good? The guy's expression was one Ray had **NEVER** seen on him before; he actually seemed contrite-

- _ **NO**_.- the voice inside screamed, with such force that Ray stumbled, reaching a hand out to brace himself against the nearest pillar. Peck turned, looking actually concerned.

"I'm fine." Ray said shortly, pushing away from the pillar and stalking past Peck. Had Peck caught his eye, he'd have seen Ray's eyes had shifted colour, taking on a bluish tinge. And behind them on the pillar, a patch of ice in the shape of a handprint remained.

* * *

Ray still didn't speak a word as he sat at the table, seeming uninterested in the cup of coffee before him. Peck drummed his fingers on the sides of his mug before finally speaking.

"I wanted to thank you."

"What for?" Ray said, blinking at the reflection in the coffee before him.

"I seen the paperwork Dr Stantz, I know you're the one who offered to act as a blood donor."

"I see. What do expect me to say?" Ray said softly "I cant sit by and let someone die, even if they held my life over a barrel? Im a big enough naive fool to save anyone and everyone? Is that explanation enough for you?"

Peck frowned, slightly uneasy now. This wasn't the same man he'd encountered all the other times they'd crossed paths. All the newspapers he'd read and the people he'd talked to had painted a picture of Dr Stantz as possibly the most childlike and enthusiastic member of the team. The figure sitting before him, staring dully at him with no emotional reaction- it wasn't him, of that he was sure.

"Why naive?" he asked "I wouldn't say being a hero is naive-"

"Well it's costing me everything right now!" Ray's eyes flashed and he thumped his hand down on the table, making the liquid in the cup before him slosh over the sides and onto the table as he fixed a glare at Peck.

"I did it because even though you want to destroy my life, I believe a person is a person no matter how screwed up they are!"

He got to his feet, a look of obvious pain warring with anger on his usually gentle features as he looked at peck. For a moment, his old self seemed to surface, then it was buried beneath suppressed stress and fury and Peck seen a flash of blush light in the man's eyes.

A barely audible sound caught his ear and he glanced down, stomach shifting in unease. The surface of the coffee in the cup before Stantz had turned to ice and where Stantz fingers rested atop the table, Walter seen frost forming...

-Something's wrong. Something's gotten to him..- he had a sudden flash of realisation. This was the exact same look of pain he'd seen on Ray's face when he'd done the impossible and gotten the ghost away from Peck. What if-?

"I can't forgive you, not knowing what you intend to do to me." Ray hissed, fully bracing his hands on the table as he leaned forward "but I refuse to have anyones life on my conscience."

Peck stood up, grabbing Ray's wrist as he made to leave. "hold on- I'm not going to-"

"Oh really? Since when have YOU ever cared? You've been trying to tear the Ghostbusters to pieces ever since that first day when Venkman told you to shove off and get a warrant." Ray shook his head, barely keeping from shouting. The hustle and bustle of the library's cafe meant their voices were mostly drowned out, with only the barista behind the counter watching the two argue from the corner of her eye. She recognised Ray, but who was the guy in the suit he was bickering with?

"Because of _YOU_ , I'm now **TRAPPED** -" Ray pounded a hand on the table again, glaring at Peck.

* * *

Outside, the frozen handprint on the pillar pulsed, then ice began to grow from it, fast creating a solid, cloudy barrier around the first floor of the building before rising higher and higher. People scattered and panic was unleashed in typical fashion. A police cruiser pulled up, drawn by the sudden tide of pedestrians that went running past them on the streets. The officers got out, staring in bewilderment at the Library.

"This is weird..." The first said "Whats going on?!"

"Heck if I know, but one things for certain- we _NEED_ the Ghostbusters."

* * *

Back at HQ, Janine had just finished explaining the whole Ray situation to the others and Peter was turning a shade of pale she hadn't seen before.

"Oh no, this is bad.." he began pacing back and forth, tears pricking his eyes "how did I not see it?"

"Calm down Peter, whatever's going on, it was clearly keeping itself well hidden. Ray probably wasn't even aware-" Egon began, but Peter shook his head.

"Well I should have been!" Peter shot back, hands clenched at his sides "I'm supposed to take care of him-"

"Even so, you're not psychic you moose-brain." Janine snapped, using insults to get Peter's attention.

"The whole ice thing **IS** kinda strange." Winston said "Peter, you'd know best, he feel or act cold at all?"

Peter shook his head "no, far from it. If anything, he seemed more.." he floundered for the right word "-cuddly then usual. I thought he was just stressed out because of that prat Peck and needed to take his mind off things."

Prompted by something in Peter's speech, Egon vanished upstairs, returning with an armful of printouts related to the tests he'd done on Ray. His computer had finally finished running all the scans and checks he'd ordered it to do and now he dumped the papers on Janine's desk and began flipping through them.

"Anything?" Janine asked as they all crowed around the desk.

Egon stared at the results, heart sinking. "I'm afraid so."

"What? What is it?" Peter grabbed the papers and tried to make sense of them, but the words just swam before his eyes. Egon gently pried them from Venkman's hands, meeting his friends eyes.

"Put simply, his core temperature is lower than a normal humans is supposed to be. My guess Peter, is that he stayed so close in a subconscious effort to keep himself warm, and affection or intimacy is a human instinct at times of panic. At a subconscious level, he was likely very scared."

"Oh, Ray.." Peter whispered, stomach shifting in concern "we have to find him!"

"We will man," Winston set a hand on Peters shoulder "don't worry, we never leave a man behind."

"Where would Ray be likely to go?" Janine asked.

"I dunno, the comic shop...toy store?" Peter wracked his brains but couldn't come up with anything concrete, because when Ray was upset, he usually came to Peter himself. Egon must've read this on his face, because he suggested they check Ray's office for clues.

* * *

What greeted them was a mess, with things looking decidedly ransacked.

"Wha?" Peter knelt down, gathering up an armful of comic books "this doesn't make sense, Ray would NEVER do this to his things. He's always been so careful with his collection."

"That explains the thud I heard." Janine said shakily "i heard a loud bang but assumed he was just doing what he usually does and building something that backfired during testing!"

"Whatever got into him must've turned him against the things that he loves. It's aim must be to get access to Ray's darker side-" Egon frowned intently at the mess.

"Dark...oh fuhhh..." Peter trailed off, lightbulbs going off in his mind. He stood abruptly, looking at the others.

"When I went after Ray that evening we brought him home from the hospital, he said he'd had to let the worst side of him loose to draw that ghost away from Peck. He said he felt he was a monster. Then he got upset and punched the wall-"

"That explains the bandage on his hand. I assumed it was from the hospital." Egon murmured.

Peter nodded, closing his eyes as he recalled that evening "he was so angry at himself, questioning everything that makes him the nicest guy you could ever meet. I told him to stop thinking like that, that we wouldn't let Peck hurt him. I thought I'd managed to make him feel better, he honestly seemed happier by the time he calmed down and I fixed his hand."

"But I'm guessing it didn't go away so easily." Winston sighed as he put it all together "it explains why he was sticking closer then ever to you Pete, something you did or said for him must've chased away those darker moments. Only.."

"It wasn't enough, Ray's own self doubt and drop in confidence eventually created an opening. Possibly it's something I did." Egon frowned "He seemed unsettled after my tests, perhaps he thought I was treating him like a child?"

"So he went after the things that represented that innocence!" Janine squeezed Egon's arm, eyes wide "it makes sense now."

"Sadly yes. Our Ray isn't himself." Egon agreed.

"Well, who better to remind him of who he is, than his friends?" Winston raised an eyebrow "let's go get back OUR Stantz."

Words flashed into Peter's head, little things he'd said to Ray on that first occasion in Morrisville.

 _ **"Thats the Ray I know and love, and that's the Ray I want to ravish."**_

 _ **"I like you the way you are, you silly man.."**_

He nodded, wanting only to feel the warmth of Ray's body in his arms again, hear his happy voice and see him smile. A smile that was like a beam of sunlight through grey clouds…

Just then, the phone went off and Janine ran to answer it, the others not far behind her. She snatched up the handset, noting down some details as fast as she could before putting the phone down.

"Big job, guys. That was the NYPD, it seems the Public Library has been encased in ice, its covered most of the building already!"

"Ice?" Egon looked at his results, it was a long shot…

He broke out of his musings to see Peter already diving behind the wheel of Ecto-1. The others quickly followed suit, even Slimer.

"Spud?" Peter asked in surprise as he revved the engine.

"Me want help Ray." the green spook said, looking sad and anxious. Peter nodded, throwing the car into gear and racing off as fast as he could.

"If that ice is Ray's doing..." Winston said what they were all thinking, Peter's hands clenched tighter on the wheel and his heart was in his throat as various endings to Winston's sentence rampaged through his head.

"Then it means that things gotten to him." he said hoarsely "well, it better prepare for a shock, because I am not letting it have him!"


	6. Echo Part 2

The Ghostbusters pulled up outside the library, where they were met by the two cops that'd called them in.

"We've tried everything, but nothing makes an ounce of difference!" The first declared.

"Yeah, kinda reminds me of that thing at new years with the art museum..." the second shrugged.

"That was caused by a cranky Carpathian, but exactly what's doing _THIS_?" Egon mused.

"We'll work that out later, for now let's try plan A!" Peter declared, before gearing up his pack and unleashing at maximum proton stream.

The others joined in, but it soon became clear they couldn't blast a big enough hole in it, not one they could fit through, anyway…

Egon ran back to the car to check his readings on the on-board computer. This was, as he'd suspected, no ordinary ice, rather it was psychokineticly charged and quite strongly too. As he got out of the car, he glanced up, seeing the way the light glinted off the ice and he had an idea. He grabbed a pair of goggles and as he confirmed his hunch, he had the first gleam of a plan.

"We need to get up on the roof!" he told the officers as he approached and they stared in bewilderment at him for a moment, before he explained the ice seemed thinner there…

Fast as they were able, the officers began radioing every department to see if they could get their hands on something to fulfil Dr Spengler's request.

* * *

"What you got in mind Egon?" Winston asked as he and Peter came over to stand beside him, looking out across the crowd that'd gathered below.

"I propose that we strike where its weakest, it hasn't taken complete control and we have a narrow opening if we can get up there in time."

The lead officer came over to say they'd managed to get hold of maintenance and that they were bringing along some heavy equipment, including a massive mobile platform usually used for fixing phone lines.

* * *

Egon seen Peter pale as the lift ascended, knew Venkman was not a big fan of heights and this piece of machinery wasn't doing his phobia any favours. Peter's grip on the railing was so tight his knuckles were turning white, eyes shut and teeth gritted.

"He uh..he ok?" the operator asked the other two, seeing how tense the brunette was.

"He aint good with being far off the ground, y'know?" Winston explained tactfully and the guy nodded, he could understand. Heights weren't for everybody…

* * *

The Ghostbusters geared up their packs agin as they disembarked on the roof. Peter swallowed down the acid roiling in his stomach and wiped sweat off his forehead.

"If anyone dares me to look off the roof, I'll punch you." he said as he followed the others, with Egon in the lead.

"Here! The reading is weaker.." Egon pointed to a patch of ice just ahead of him. They surrounded it, aimed and opened fire.

It worked at first, but the ice began to grow back just as Peter reached for the latch on the skylight window. It rapidly covered the heavy pane of glass again, closing up and looking thicker then before.

"We wont all get in before it seals up." Winston scratched his head, sighing.

"Then let **ME** go." Peter said, gaze fixed on the ice. Hearing surprised noises from his teammates he looked up, expression set "I mean it. If only one of us can fit through, then let it be me. Ray is..."

"We know," Egon assured him, patting his shoulder as he turned the idea over in his mind "keep in radio contact, use the modded channels if needs be."

Peter nodded, heart aching at the suggestion his dear Raymond was trapped inside at the mercy of a demon, scared and alone..

-I'm comin' Ray, and I am gonna kiss you in front of every witness in that building if thats what it takes to save you!-

Egon and Winston fired, driving the ice back far enough for Peter to smash the window and start to descend. Around his waist was a length of rope, clipped and secured to a nearby antenna.

"Get him back, Pete." Winston said as the ice began to overpower their blasters.

"Don't let him blame himself." Egon said firmly.

Peter nodded, dropping down to the floor as the ice covered up the window again. At the last second Slimer, who'd been hiding behind Egon, darted out and just made it through the gap.

* * *

"Oh, hey spud." Peter said absently as he got to his feet, rubbing his bruised rear end and cursing.

It was silent in the hall, the ice overhead lending the hall a bluish tinge. Peter took off running but barely made it round the first corner when he bumped into someone and was knocked flat on his ass.

Opening his eyes, he seen who it was and surged to his feet-

Walter Peck stepped back, hands raised in a futile gesture as Venkman got to his feet, furious eyes locked on him.

"Egon was right, there is something evil in this building." He cracked his knuckles and advanced on Peck, blinded by his anger.

"Wait, I'm not doing this- it's your friend, Dr Stantz-!"

Peter grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall, snarling softly.

"Don't you _**DARE**_ try to blame this on Ray. If he's in trouble, its **YOUR** fault, you sanctimonious ass-"

"He created the ice!" Walter blurted and Peter hesitated, eyes narrowing as Peck babbled.

"Explain, and make it fast. My patience is thin and you do not want to make me any more angry than I already am. What. Happened. To. RAYMOND?"

Peck swallowed nervously and began telling his side of the story…

* * *

 _When Ray had pounded the table, shouting that last word "Trapped"- the whole rom had gone dark. People began to panic, running to the windows only to discover they were sealed behind thick ice._

 _The phones would only give static and nobody had access to a radio to call for help._

 _Peck stared at the chaos unfolding in the wake of the strange phenomenon, then turned to Ray._

 _But Ray's gaze was dispassionate and uncaring._

 _"Doctor Stantz?" Peck waved a hand in Ray's face "get a grip! These people need help, they need a Ghostbuster-"_

 _"Then they're out of luck!" Ray shot back with a hiss. Seeing him now, Peck noticed Ray's formerly gentle brown eyes were an icy blue. Whatever had gotten into him had taken control._

 _"What chance you pathetic humans had is gone now. Your bitterness and spite broke him, do you see? And when belief in the world as strong as this one's is breaks...it spreads to those around him. The gentle hearts are always the most bountiful-"_

 _"Snap out of it!" Peck shook him by his shoulders, but Ray just pushed him off with surprising force and took off running, soon lost in the mash of people running around like headless chickens. Walter ran after him, Ray was all the chance any of them had. For the first time in years of working in politics, he felt guilty. He hadn't thought he'd become this hateful, he'd just become used to winning._

 _-Maybe the price of being the victor isn't worth paying this time?- he concluded miserably as he left the crowds behind, soon getting lost in the maze of rooms within the huge library. Then he'd turned a corner and-_

* * *

"That's when I ran into you!" he finished, looking at Venkman's furious eyes. The Ghostbuster glared at him silently, then stepped back and released his hold on Walter's collar and Peck slid down the wall with a sigh of relief-

"Get up." Peter said "we're going to find Ray. When we do, you better have a damn good apology ready."

Mutely, Walter nodded. Seeing the visible proof what being so cruel could do was a shock. He'd always been able to ignore it, pretend it wasn't happening. It was always someone else's problem…

But this was all his doing. He knew that loud and clear, as he followed Venkman.

"Geez, it's so cold..." Peter muttered to himself "he's gonna get sick."

The tone of concern was obvious and Walters hand strayed to his shirt pocket. In it was the canister of film, recovered from his damaged clothes by the paramedics. On it were the photos that'd started all this, photos of love and innocence…

* * *

Peck shivered as he walked, his suit was doing little to shield him. Even the fleece lined coat he wore wasn't warding off the chill, the cold just seemed beyond unnatural, seeping through their clothes like they were tissue paper.

"Cold!" Slimer agreed, icicles forming on his ectoplasmic body as he floated alongside them. If Peter was feeling it, he said nothing.

Peter stopped and looked around him as his companions debated the chill factor, searching the muted halls, the lighting dimmed by the thick layer of ice. But one branching hall seemed even darker, almost as if it wasn't natural.

Peter took off at a jog, hearing Walter stumbling along behind, a little out of breath by the sounds of it. But the man was right, it was colder down this way, and Peter was sure it had to be coming from the source of the ice, his Raymond.

"A light source!" Peter gasped, at last spying a faint, pulsing blue light from up ahead "I'm guessing thats not ambient lighting."

"Ray?" Slimer asked hopefully.

They rounded the corner and Peter came to such an abrupt halt that Peck bumped into him. Stepping back, Peck rubbed his nose where he'd bumped it off the proton pack and stepped round to see what'd caused Venkman to grind to a stop like that.

"Uh oh." he said nervously.

"Ohh...oh noes.." Slimer hid behind Peck, but Walter barely noticed, too transfixed by the sight ahead.

They'd found Ray, that was true. But snapping him out of whatever was holding him wasn't going to be easy. The red-head was kneeling on the ice coated floor, sitting back on his heels. His hands were folded serenely on his lap, eyes closed. His entire body shimmered with a pale blue light and this seemed to be prompting the ice to slowly cover him. Already his fingers were millimetres away from being frozen in the ice. He was barely moving and only a faint puff of air gave them a hint he was still breathing. The walls around them were scratched with strange symbols that made Walter think a computer had thrown up on a sheet of blue paper.

"Oh shiii-" Peter choked out as he stared at Ray, feeling about to be sick "this is bad. Whats going on?!"

"It's that same ghost, from before..got to be." Walter said faintly, wincing as Peter rounded on him "from the newspaper building? That thing must've scratched him or gotten under his skin somehow.."

"So even though we sealed most of it away, it left enough of itself behind to hijack Ray's body." Peter shook his head "it took advantage of how miserable he was, then it amplified it."

"Then he's been acting weird around you, too?" Walter asked.

Slimer drifted over to Ray, peering anxiously at his long-time friend. He sniffled and patted Ray's mess of red hair..

"He acted scared and distraught around _ME_ , and eventually it turned him against the things he loved."

As Peter spoke, he slowly advanced towards Ray. Peck stood close by, glancing nervously at the carvings in the ice that coated the walls around them.

Slimer floated back to allow Peter to kneel down in front of Ray and reach a hand up to touch his cheek, stomach sinking at how cold he was. He brushed his thumb along Ray's lower lip, recalling the times before when he'd done this, remembering the way Ray blushed, how soft and warm he was-

Unable to sit there and watch his lover become an ice sculpture, Peter took the chance and pressed his lips to Ray's, clasping the other Ghostbuster's icy hands in his.

-Please Ray...wake up...- he pleaded, but when he released his sweet Ray from the kiss, nothing seemed to have changed. Peter felt hot tears prickle at his eyelids as he let his forehead rest against Ray's, shoulders slumping.

Walter was studying the creepy writing on the walls when he seen it glow faintly. He stepped back, opening his mouth to get Venkman's attention; when he seen the reflection in the ice, seen Peter part from clearly planting a kiss on Stantz. Now he seemed to have given in to defeat, just sitting there with his partners hands clasped in his-

That was when something unexpected happened. Peter heard a sharp intake of breath, and when he opened his eyes they met with Ray's bluish-brown ones.

"P-peter…?" Ray said shakily, voice merely a whisper. The thin ice adhering his hands to his trouser leg twitched and crackled, falling away in brittle shards as Ray moved them.

Peter looked ready to cry as he placed his palms on either side of Ray's face, the warmth of his palms chasing the cold away.

"It's OK, I'm gonna get you outta here." Peter promised, but instead of looking relieved, Ray looked scared.

"Y-you have to run!" Ray gasped, voice trembling badly.

"Like hell I am. You know me, never listens to a word anyone says and that includes you this time, mmkay?" Peter tapped Ray's nose, managing a smile.

Again, Walter seen the writing on the walls pulsate.

"I hate to barge in, but this goobledegook on the wall is kicking off every time you get cute."

"Huh? What writing..?" Peter asked, looking around him. All **he** seen was thick ice, spreading out from where Ray was rooted at the centre.

Ray lifted his head and seen who this other voice belonged to. Icy panic filled him and the ice that'd been slowly encroaching up his legs crackled and covered a few inches in seconds. Peter heard this and whipped back to face Ray, keeping the red-heads shaking hands clasped in his as Ray began to hyperventilate.

"It's OK," he whispered "when this is over, he's got an apology all lined up for being an ass. Nobody's gonna hurt you now." his voice was low and soothing, reminding Ray of many a night spent between the sheets, warm hands tracing his body..

The iron bands around his lungs finally broke apart and he was able to calm his heart rate enough to think clearly. He clung to the happy memories and nodded, blushing when Peter kissed the tip of his nose as he often liked to do. The ice retreated a little, falling back enough to allow Ray to relax.

Walter kept an eye on the writings on the wall along with the reflection of the two as Venkman fought to keep Stantz from panicking.

"What's on the wall?" Peter glanced at Peck now, seeing he was just staring at a blank wall in his eyes. Peck jolted out of his trance and glanced around, spotting a maintenance cupboard he ran over and pried it open, finding a clipboard and pencil. Flipping over the sheet of paper, he copied the first set of symbols before handing the paper to Venkman.

"Wow, looks like Egon's computer on drugs." Peter raised an eyebrow before turning it to face Ray "any clues, Ray?"

Ray shivered as he focused his gaze on the paper, flickers of memory piercing the haze and cold.

"Yes, i-it's-" he coughed before continuing "it's a piece of a set of instructions."

"What do they say?" Peter squeezed Ray's hand encouragingly.

"Find innocence unbroken and destroy it by your own hand-"

Ray cut off, a scared chill running through him and he looked desperately at Peter.

"Sounds like a to-do list to me." Walter remarked, making both of them look at him.

"To do...what? And for whom?" Peter said with a frown.

"For the demon itself. These marks look like it clawed them itself. Check your hands, are they calloused or bleeding?"

Ray looked at his hands, cradled in Peter's. "No.." he croaked, wondering what it meant?

"Then that thing clearly left your body to do it." Walter stated "I don't see any tools discarded nearby and these marks are too irregular to be made by any tool I've seen."

"Wow." Peter blinked "that makes sense!"

Walter scowled at him, but for a brief moment he seen Stantz crack a smile. Peter spotted this too and subtly winked at Ray, making the Ghostbuster feel a little better. What was it Peter had said to him back at the start of this chaos?

 _ **"I have you, I have hope."**_

He finally understood what Peter felt and it made the despair clouding his mind waver under a surge of affection. He felt a strong, undeniable urge to-

Peter suggested Peck copy the rest of the writing down fast, they needed to work out what this thing was up to! He turned back to Ray, opening his mouth to ask how he was feeling, but Ray suddenly moved as best as his icy restraint allowed. He grabbed Peter's collar and tugged him close. The added weight of the proton pack made Peter overbalanced a little and he had to brace his hands on Ray's shoulders, lest he crash right into him. But he wasn't given much chance to ponder this as Ray's lips closed over his, the kiss a thing of warmth and happiness.

Peter seen Ray's lips move as they parted, read the words he mouthed-

The ice around Rays legs cracked and splintered, turning to a fine mist of ice. Ray tried to gather his legs under him to stand but they'd gone numb so he succeeded only in toppling forward. Peters arms moved to brace him, so they were nose-to-nose, Ray half propped up by Peter, who was sat back on his haunches.

Peck stepped back as the writing on the second wall cracked and fractured.

"What did you just- oh, of course." He raised an eyebrow on seeing the way they were sat.

"Oh, bite me." Peter grumped, making Walter snort and roll his eyes. Peter gently helped Ray to stagger to his feet, but he was too shaken to stand for long and Peter swiftly sat him back down again.

"It's OK, Ray-" Peter stopped as he seen red dripping onto Ray's collar "Ray, you're hurt-?!"

"Huh?" Ray wiped at his left cheek, wincing in pain as his fingers encountered a bleeding cut.

"That was _NOT_ here earlier, right?" Peter glanced sharply at Peck, who'd turned to face them now, the next sheet of paper clutched in one hand.

He shook his head silently and Pete turned back to Ray, who was looking at the blood coating his fingertips with numb shock.

"Wait a second-" Peck stepped forward, staring at Ray "There's something embedded in the wound."

"What?" Peter gently moved Ray's hand aside and studied it closely, but he could only see blood.

"It's a glowing blue shard." Peck looked a bit queasy, Ray thought. What he was seeing had to be a side effect of the contact with the creature and the whole near-death thing.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as being psycho-kineticly sensitive," Peter said dryly "or sensitive at all."

Peck gave him a withering look and Peter just smirked.

"Maybe it runs in his family?" Ray suggested but Walter just snorted again and adamantly shook his head.

"I have studied my family tree and they're all about as psychic as a potato. Wherever this came from, it wasn't naturally inherited. Politics runs in my family, wether we like it or not."

Walter flashed back to growing up in a rich home, but being forced to follow in his fathers footsteps had made him bitter about his lot in life. Eventually, he'd come to the decision the world wasn't worth trusting.

Ray seen Walter space out, a strangely pensive look on the normally angry politicians face. He wondered then if there was more to him any of them had first guessed?

A sharp pain bit into his cheek and he winced, causing Peter to re-engage his mother-hen mode. He wiped the blood away with his sleeve and he studied Ray's worried eyes, and noticed something.

"Are your eyes changing colour?" he said aloud.

"You tell me, you're the one staring at them." Walter snarked, walking over with the sheets of paper and stared again at the cut on Ray's cheek as Peter flipped him off.

"The glowing blue thing, it's closer."

"Closer to what?" Ray asked, still a little uneasy at being near this guy, even though he wasn't acting the same as before.

Closer to the surface of the skin. Whatever you're thinking, or.. _doing_ ," he glanced at Peter with a raised eyebrow before continuing "it's messing with whatever spell it has on your mind."

Ray blinked, looking at Peter and seen Venkman raise a surprised eyebrow in turn.

"Sounds plausible." Ray said at last and Peter's eyebrows almost vanished under his mop of hair.

"Don't look so surprised," Peck snapped, even though by then he'd turned his back to stare at the dark corridor they'd come down "that thing fed on hate and bitterness when it went after me- then you- last time. It's common sense that all this lovey dovey schmaltz would tick it off."

"I therefore propose we make out!" Peter declared grandly. Ray squeaked and blushed profusely.

"Don't. You. **DARE**." Peck groaned, spinning on his heel to glare daggers at Venkman, who looked smug 'I already fear I'm diabetic!"

Ray bit his lip, but couldn't help himself and a small chuckle escaped him. Both parties looked at him, their argument ceasing for now. The same pain jabbed at Rays cheek and he cried out sharply, pressing a hand to it as fresh blood oozed out.

* * *

Outside, other two Ghostbusters were taking shelter behind a vent on the roof. Not long after Peter had gotten inside with Slimer in tow, a glowing pool of blue light had swirled out of one of the vents and coalesced into a vaguely humanoid shape. It was already cold out, but in the presence of this thing it felt like they'd walked into the arctic!

'You wont get him back!" the thing cackled, its face splitting into an evil grin as it spoke, teeth like knives "he's going to feed me every bit of darkness he has!"

"You scumbag!" Winston snarled, firing at it, cursing as it dodged aside, its eyes narrowing. From there, it was an all out battle, with two Ghostbusters versus an angry spirit.

"Fight all you want, you wont free him from me!" it laughed, but it seemed to be addressing thin air. Egon realised it had to be keeping tabs on Ray and that comment meant-

"Peter's reached him. We have to keep this thing occupied long enough for him to free Ray." he told Winston, who considered this and nodded.

"Lets bring the noise!" he grinned with renewed confidence as he and Egon stood up from their hiding spot, firing at their opponent, drawing his attention back to them.

* * *

"W-we have to remove it." Ray hiccuped as the pain made his eyes water. The blood felt hot against his chilled skin, reminding him he was still human..

Peter looked aghast and shook his head "no no no, _NO_. Did I mention no? I cant do that to you Ray, also: 1)We have no surgical tools and 2) I cant see what's embedded there."

"1) All we need is a sharp tool, a flame and some alcohol. 2) I can."

Both turned to look at Walter.

"How'd you know that? Also, what makes you think I'd let _YOU_ anywhere near Ray-"

"Do it."

"Come again?" Peter asked, wondering if he'd misheard. Ray chuckled and booped him on the nose.

"Don't be crass, Peter." he felt a spark of his old self returning when Peter went red and facepalmed.

"Egon was right, I am _SUCH_ a bad influence. _**YES**_!" Peter grinned widely as he stuck his arms in the air in triumph and Ray giggled, the sound filling the icy room and seeming to brighten it a little.

"Petey funny!" Slimer clapped his hands and Ray held his arms out to give the ghost a hug. This meant his coat got slimed but he didn't care…

"All jokes aside, are you sure Ray?"

"He's the only one who can see it and I have a feel its the key, or at least a big part of it. Everything we've done thats weakened that ice, cracked the walls- it's made this thing glow. If we get it out of there, we stand a better chance of stopping it, I-I'm sure of it."

Peter studied him a moment then nodded "Alright Ray, I trust you know what you're doing, you always do."

Walter strode back over to the maintenance closet and began rifling through it, emerging with a pack of unopened dust cloths.

"I'm going to check the offices, see if I can find some alcohol."

"What makes you think theres gonna be any in there?" Peter asked sceptically. Walter laughed briefly as he took off down the hallway, braving the shadows.

"It's an office block, if someone isn't hiding booze around here, I'll be surprised!"

"Thats unnerving." Ray said, frowning a little.

"I'm so glad to see you smile.." Peter said, tears of relief pricking his eyes "when I seen you frozen like a statue, it scared me."

"I'm sorry." Ray murmured, wrapping his arms around Peter and breathing in the scent of his skin as he nuzzled his neck.

"Don't be, this wasn't your fault. It's HIS-" but Peter found himself cut off from his rant by Ray kissing him on the lips gently.

"That thing targeted him too. As much as I hate him, I think theres something more to this." Stantz said persuasively.

Peter smiled, caressing Ray's cheek as he studied him. "You amaze me Raymond. I knew that part of you wouldn't be defeated so easily. But listen close, cutie..."

Ray blinked, blushing as Peter looked at him with such affection it made his heart race.

"It's OK to speak out. You did what any person would do, you fought to protect what you value and nobody would blame you, I certainly don't. Even if those photos leak out, you wont lose me. You'll have something Peck never will- real friends, a family like ours."

"Yayy!" Slimer burbled.

"What he said." Peter added, making Slimer clap his hands in glee. Ray looked at the both of them, nodding silently as his voice choked up. He brushed away tears of relief just as footsteps approached and they all glanced over at the door, seeing Walter returning with a box of supplies.

"Question:" Walter said "how has all this screwing about- _grow up you two_ \- not attracted that things attention?"

Ray opened his mouth to answer as he fought not to laugh again, then cocked his head to one side. Dimly, far above-

"Proton blasts!" he chirped, grabbing Peters sleeve, nodding at his pack "The others must be giving that thing what for!"

"Then we'd better hurry, no telling how long they'll be able to last with just two packs." peter said, any merriment fading as Walter set the box before him. Inside was a bottle of whiskey, a pair of dismantled scissors and a heavy duty lighter.

"Before you ask, my sister is a nurse. One of the few in our family who didn't get into politics." Peck said tersely, to which peter just nodded.

Ray stared at his hands as he heard Walter fussing with makeshift tools he'd scavenged.

"I'm gonna need you to hold his hands down, Venkman. The knee-jerk reaction will be to fight this and I don't want a scissor blade in the brain." Peck said, looking at the brunette, who was watching him with an antsy expression on his face. It was obvious Venkman hated his guts, but what choice did he have? Walter had no desire to meet that ghost again and if destroying it meant helping someone who despised him, he just had to grin and bear it. But what he'd overheard them talking about-

He snapped back to focus as the scissor blade was hot enough to have been satisfactorily disinfected. He allowed it to cool, then set one hand on Rays shoulder, the other holding the makeshift surgical tool-

As expected, Ray tensed up and uttered a sharp cry of pain. Peter kept a firm grip on his hands, his stomach cramping in worry as he seen the pain on Ray's face, seen him shudder as as Walter progressed. But Ray kept as still as he could despite the pain, breathing a little shaky but somehow his body was still.

-There!- With one quick movement, Peck was able to separate the splinter of icy crystal just enough that he could use the tweezers he'd found to pull it free, quickly, like one would when tearing off a band-aid.

Ray whimpered, pained tears overflowing in an instant as he felt the splinter's removal.

"It's OK." Peter assured him, but Ray wouldn't open his eyes, body tensed from exhaustion and panic. On auto-pilot, Peck picked up a clean cloth and soaked it in whiskey. Ray bit back a whole stream of curse words as it stung, but he withstood it as best he could, squeezing Peter's hands.

"Ray? Uh….hands, circulation? Gonna need that." Peter squeaked. Ray's eyes flew open and he made an apologetic noise as he relaxed his grip.

"S-sorry." he croaked.

"Once that thing is gone, go to a real doctor." Peck said, packing the stuff back into the box "the alcohol helps, but it's not foolproof. 40% proof, maybe..."

Ray blinked at this surprise bit of wry humour and actually smiled, which surprised Peck, who'd been distancing himself from all of this. Usually, the smiles he seen were fake, worn by toadying ministers and higher ups.

"Thank you." Ray said shakily to him "hopefully now, we stand a chance."

Peck didn't say anything and Ray was sure he seen him flinch away, as if his simple words of gratitude frightened Peck on some level.

Peter helped Ray to his feet, sneaking a brief kiss while Peck set off towards the darkened corridor with Slimer following closely behind, understanding that Petey and Ray wanted to smooch.

Seeing the ghosts amused face, Peck rolled his eyes and asked it "let me guess, they're kissing again?"

"Smoochy smooch!" Slimer said brightly, making Peck facepalm.

"How the heck are they so shameless?" he muttered, but he never got an answer, as all hell broke loose right then.

* * *

Up above on the roof, Egon and Winston had been herding the thing away from the vents it'd emerged from, doing their utmost to whip it into a frenzy, make it lose track of Ray-

But abruptly it halted in mid air and roared in fury.

"No, I will not let you have him!" it seethed, then dove for the vent, forcing the Ghostbusters to duck or else face serious injury as it pushed its power to the max. They watched in worry as it escaped their weaponry back into the icy domain it'd made from the library.

"I hope we bought 'em enough time, that thing is hopping mad." Winston said in the chilly quiet, the sound of the clamouring crowds drifting up from below.

* * *

Peter cried out sharply as he was forcefully dragged away from Ray, thrown to the ground HARD, where he felt a rib crack, maybe two. Gasping, he lifted his body enough to look over at Ray-

Ray was trapped on the other side, pounding on the icy walls. A blue claw grabbed his shoulder, throwing him to the cold hard ground.

"Nice try." the ghost said as it appeared, looming over the prone Ray. "You freed yourself, almost. But that little shard was just to keep you docile, I'm not through with you yet!"

"HAY!" Peter screamed as he forced himself to his feet "Get out here and face me you complete hole of an ass!"

He swore as pain flared in his chest and he nearly crumpled to the floor, had Peck not suddenly appeared by his side to steady him.

"It was an impressive plan, using your friends to distract me while you tried to free your lover, but all the love in the world wont fix broken trust."

"No. You're wrong." Ray croaked.

"Is that so? Then what about the photographs?" the ghost teased. Ray flinched and bit his lip, vision blurring. He still feared the loss of what he held dear. Not just Peter, but his faith in the world at large…

"You see? How can you keep believing in that miserable human being who drove you to this in the first place?"

Peck felt his insides go cold and he heard Peter curse as he tried to take a deep breath against his aching ribs.

"Ray!" Peter called, struggling to raise his voice "don't listen, remember what I told you before-!"

Ray lifted his head, understanding flickering through his head, accompanied by memories of Peters voice.

 _ **"It's part of what I love about you."**_

 _ **"Its what makes you so well-liked.."**_

That part of him, it really mattered to his friends and his lover.

The ghost roared in fury, realising mere taunts weren't effective. It locked a hand around Ray's neck, delivering a jolt of power to stun him and make his muscles lock up. Ray coughed and gasped as he crumpled to the floor, fighting to move. He struggled to think through the haze filling his mind…

"Ray!" Peter cried, surging forward on wobbly legs, Walter close behind.

"Use your gun!" Peck shouted, indicating the proton wand. Peter unhitched it, powering the unit up and blasted part of the wall to the right of Ray's position. But the hole he'd made quickly began to close up and Peter snarled, advancing on the ice wall.

"There's got to be a way to stop that thing?!" Peck was white as a sheet.

"It's capitalising on Ray's loss of what was so important to him." Peter looked at Peck, too scared for Ray to stay angry at this man "he always prided himself on seeing the best in people. He seen right through ME, wasn't fooled by my act of pushing people away and taking nothing seriously. He's the sole reason I didn't cut all ties with my father- you don't know who you messed with, do you?"

Peck looked from him over to Ray "guess not." he said weakly.

As he folded his arms across his chest, he felt something shift in his pocket. Of course- the film!

An idea, the first seed of decency he'd felt in years, began to grow and he cats a glance around for the cleaning cupboard- there! Lucky for them it was still on the same side of the icy wall as they were. He grabbed a bottle of industrial cleaner, grabbing a cloth too…

"What...what are you doing?!" Peter winced as he opened fire on the ice wall again, hearing Ray cry out in panic, hearing him refuse to give in…

"The only thing I can do." Peck said, turning to face Peter now. In his hand was the bottle of cleaner, with a rag stuffed into it.

"A molotov?" Peter asked, he wouldn't have suspected Peck as closet arsonist.

Peck managed a wry smile, tilting the bottle and nodding at the shielding "fire that thing on full power and I'll lob it through."

Lost for any better ideas, Peter nodded, set the stream to full and aimed it at the wall, safely away from where Ray was huddled over on the floor. Soon as the gap was big enough he nodded to Peck, who lit the rag and lobbed it through the gap. It hit the ground about three feet from Ray, going up in a blaze of alcohol flames. Ray coughed, staring fuzzily at it. In the centre of the flames, something sizzled…

"What's this?" the ghost laughed reaching into the flames and lifting a blob of melting plastic and watching the innards of it dripping to the floor like wax. Ray blinked, recognising the shape of the canister. Was it…?

"The end of this matter for good!" Peck smirked in his trademark fashion, flicking the thing the bird "What happens when you remove the thing you're capitalising on?"

The ghost faltered, then it realised what it was looking at. It whipped round and dove for Ray, but Stantz wasn't having any of it. He made the monumental decision to take this small act decency for what it was, he didn't want to stop being who he was.

The ice under his hands began to crack, zig-zag lines spreading rapidly across the floors and up the walls. The writing on the walls shattered, falling to the floor as the spirit shrieked in pain.

"Get lost!" Ray yelled, "I'm not your plaything any more!'

The barrier that'd been separating Ray from Peter and Walter began to crack too and Peter readied the proton gun again.

He unhitched the trap and handed it to Walter, who looked alarmed and held the thing at arms length.

"This things gonna fight the stream, even on full, so I need both hands free. When I say so, throw that trap as close as you can and press the pedal. Got that?"

Walter nodded, he'd never actually seen them work close up, not wanting to get close to four guys wielding nuclear weaponry! But he didn't have a choice….

So he steeled himself, holding the Trap by its handle and keeping one eye on where the ghost was, the other on Venkman.

Soon as the barrier fell to pieces, Peter hit the writhing ghost, seeing Ray already having positioned himself as far away as he could. As expected, the ghost fought the stream like a wild bull, nearly making Peter fall over again. Wincing at the ache in his ribs, he grit his teeth and kept tight control of the ghost, just a little longer-

"NOW!" he yelled and seen Walter step forward out of the corner of his eye, slinging the trap across the floor where it stopped underneath the thrashing spirit. Walter slammed his hand down on the pedal, watching wide-eyed as the trap opened, blinding light throwing the room into sharp relief. The spirit shouted in fury but couldn't resist the pull of the trap. Finally, there was a loud snap and the light died down as the trap closed its doors.

* * *

"Not bad for a first timer." Peter remarked to the surprised Peck, who was eyeballing the trap warily. Then they heard a soft groan and Peter immediately darted off, collapsing to the floor in time to clasp Ray in his arms as the red-head sat up.

Ray blinked, his face was smooshed against Peter's shoulder and he could feel him shaking in relief.

"Pefer?" he asked, voice muffled "sowweh."

"Ah, sorry cutie." Peter let him go a little so he could breathe properly. He took in Ray's pale face, those gentle brown eyes, back to their usual self.

"Are you OK?" he asked shakily, kissing the tip of Rays nose.

"Yeah, i think so." Ray said shakily "nothing's broken."

Peter made a shaky sound of relief, embracing his precious love once again.

"My Raymond." he whispered over and over, confirming he had him back once more. Ray hugged him tightly, insisting he was OK.

Slimer sniffled, wiping his eyes and making happy noises. Walter stared at the ghost, then just shrugged and shook his head, he was past questioning these oddballs or their spook. Instead, while Venkman fussed over Stantz and made sure he wasn't injured bar the cut on his face, Peck walked over to the trap. Picking it up, he turned it over in his hands, examining the warnings all over it. What a strange bit of tech it was, and now it held that angry spirit.

Slimer drifted over and sniffed at the trap, then blew a raspberry, presumably aimed at the occupant.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Peck said dryly.

He turned at the scuffle of feet, seeing Venkman and Stantz on their feet, although Stantz looked close to collapse again, he was white as a sheet and shivering. Peck remembered he'd been encased in ice and his coat was likely soaked through.

"You need to get out of those clothes," he said "you'll catch cold."

"That's my line!" Peter objected, making Ray giggle dizzily.

"W-wouldn't be the first time...eh, Peter?" Ray joked feebly as Peter steered him towards a bench outside one of the offices.

"Heh, the pier." Peter finished and Peck released it was obviously a reference to a case of theirs.

Ray struggled out of the icy cold coat and Peter draped it over a potted plant for the moment.

"Try this." Peck suggested, holding out the expensive designer coat he'd been wearing. With the ice now melting away with the ghosts removal, the heat was returning to the building. He thought the room was even getting lighter..

Ray coughed a thank you as Peter wrapped it around him for now, trying to keep Ray warm. He was quite surprised by Pecks little acts of decency, but when he tried to catch the guys eye briefly, Peck just fidgeted and stared at the trap instead. A loud crack made them all jump and Ray swore colourfully.

"What's that?" Peter squeaked, heart thudding loudly in his chest.

Slimer drifted to the nearest window, blinking as a crack ran up the ice coating it.

"Ice go bye bye!" he declared.

"Of course!" Ray said, smiling as his eyes brightened "with the ghost gone, its ectoplasmic ice must be collapsing. With any luck it wont create too much mess."

Peck said nothing, just wandered over to join Slimer at the window. As the ice fell away he seen the sky was buzzing with news choppers and below was a sizeable crowd.

"Your fanclubs waiting down there." he remarked dryly, "the rest of your gang is probably busting the doors down by now."

"We'd best get moving then." Peter nodded, helping Ray put the fleece-lined coat on properly before helping him stand. He grabbed the icy-drenched coat Ray had been wearing and tossed it over his arm, then looped Ray's arm over his shoulder, steadying him.

* * *

The group walked slowly through the halls, Ray shivering and Peter wincing as his aching ribs protested against the strain. Ray finally spotted his pained expression and shakily asked what was wrong?

Peck turned to look back at them as he heard Ray come to a halt. He seen Venkman was looking about to be sick, his other arm cradling his chest. That's right, he'd been knocked flying by that ticked off ghost..

"I may have bruised a rib or two... _ah_!" Peter tried to straighten up and uttered a sharp cry of pain.

"Hey...d-did your sister ever tell you how to check for broken bones?" Ray asked Peck as he forced Peter to sit down on a nearby windowsill.

"Funnily, she did. She always insisted it'd be handy if if I ever got caught up in a riot or something, or someone else did." he shrugged as he walked over to where Ray was helping Peter unzip the jumpsuit. Beneath it peter a black shirt emblazoned with the name of a rock band, Metal Witch.

"Huh, my sister has all their records." Peck remarked as he moved the shirt up to investigate the skin beneath. The bruising pattern was a confirmation for severe bruising, but his sister had also shown him to check for how the bones felt…

"She's got taste then- ow %^$$%!" Peter trailed off into some colourful curse words as his ribs were poked and prodded.

"Hm, two of them are broken and others are likely bruised." Peck stepped back and Peter sighed tiredly as he straightened his shirt down.

"Great, a week off work again." he sighed "Well, thanks. The less time I have to spend in a hospital, the better."

"We have been in them an awful lot, haven't we?" Ray said.

"How'd you swing that?" Peck had to ask.

"Easy. Angry wraiths, almost falling off a pier, icy water, getting clawed by demon birds." Ray shrugged "you get the idea."

"How are you not dead yourselves?!" Peck looked aghast.

"I like to think I'm just too dense to notice." Peter nodded sagely and grinned at Ray, who chuckled softly.

" _Peter_." Ray scolded, but Peter just grinned.

"What was I saying in Morrisville?" he said with a wry grin.

"Oh?" Ray raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh "in that case, your dense as dark matter."

"Thank you." Peter said in a posh voice and they looked at each other for a second before busting into laughter.

Peck stared at them, watching them sit there, giggling away. Despite what they'd just been through, they were still able to laugh and joke so freely...

"Whatever you two are on, I want some." he muttered and Peter heard him, glancing over.

"It's easy! See, I keep telling Ray to tell people off when they're being asses. I'm just keeping him on his toes. You should try it, tell the mayor to stuff his head up his butt or something."

"It'd have to be the last thing I **EVER** do!" Peck looked affronted "he'd fire me for sure, I don't know if you noticed but he doesn't HAVE a sense of humour." he shrugged and turned to set off down the hall "I should know. He's exactly like my father."

This made Peter blink and when he looked at Ray, he was studying Peck's retreating back with a confused look.

"Family can really affect us, cant they?" he murmured to Peter, who nodded and kissed Ray's cheek before getting back to his feet. Ray insisted he could walk by himself, he didn't want Peter putting pressure on his ribs. They caught up to Walter and Slimer, who seemed happy following their former foe around, either that or he was just keeping an eye on the trap Walter still had tucked under his arm.

* * *

They reached the ground floor to see that the people that'd been trapped had already cleared out, and the main doors were open. Just as Peter and Ray approached it, two figures stepped inside. Having evacuated the civilians they were back to look for their fellow ghostbusters.

"Egon!" Ray cried happily "Winston, over here!"

Peck darted aside, ducking behind a pillar as the Ghostbusters reunited.

"Thank goodness, are you two alright?" Egon asked "we were getting some very strange readings off this place."

"Yeah, we're OK." Ray said with a shaky smile "that thing was trying to take over my body and it nearly succeeded. If they hadn't helped me.."

Winston assumed the 'they' referred to Peter and Slimer, for neither he nor Egon had noticed Peck doing his vanishing act.

"It was scary." Ray whispered, shivering. "Im sorry, I know I acted strange. I just felt...wrong.."

"It's perfectly alright Ray." Egon assured him, patting Rays shoulder "we figured out that thing was twisting your emotions to make you lash out, taking advantage of your emotional exhaustion. Whatever happens, we'll be right here to help you sort it out."

"Hell yeah. Aint nobody gettin' to you, they'll have to get through us first!" Winston promised, which made Ray tear up in relief. He tried to say that the film was gone, but he couldn't get himself to speak, just squeaked.

"Yup, he's back!" Peter grinned at the squeak.

Ray laughed, a sound of relief and happiness as the events of the day came crashing down. His friends stood with him until the hiccupy laugh-crying had tailed off and Peter wiped the tears away with his sleeve.

"You two should get checked over at the hospital, just in case." Egon said at last as he seen how pale they both looked.

Ray nodded, feeling the cut on his cheek ache every time he spoke or smiled. Peter nodded too.

"Got a couple broken ribs, but thats about it- Ow my aching...all of me." peter groaned and sighed "let's go."

* * *

They headed for the exit and Peck realised he should probably give them their trap back. He darted after them, reaching the top stair just as they were halfway down. He opened his mouth to call out, then seen the Mayor's car pull up. He winced, stomach sinking as he hurried down to where the Ghostbusters were approaching the car. The Mayor got out and he was NOT happy.

"Do you have any idea what your antics up there have caused?" he addressed this to Egon, one of the two he recognised from the news chopper reports.

"The capture and release of the ghost and the library respectively?" Egon said calmly and the Mayor scowled.

"No, you walking hair pile, you've interrupted an important political parade. Campaign season is coming up and this is disastrous."

"So, what, we're supposed to let innocent people suffer for politics sake? Get real!' Peter snapped, so the Mayor rounded on him now.

"That's quite enough out of **YOU** , Venkman. You're the founder of this renegade group according to the paperwork, so it'll be YOUR ass on the stand when I'm through with you."

He stopped ranting as Peck finally reached them, something held in his arms.

"Peck? Why're you here-? Never mind, I don't really care. Put yourself to good use and make a note; this city is going to put a stop to these jokers and their wilful destruction."

Peck opened his mouth to respond like he always did. But something made him pause.

-Like a doormat. I'm tired of being walked over my whole life.- he thought. But he flashed back over the encounter he'd just had with Venkman and Stantz, the things he'd heard them saying. Thoughts of his family, his whole upbringing flashed into his head. This mess was HIS fault, he was the one who'd set out to hurt Stantz for no other reason then petty bitterness.

"You'll be dealign with these bozos, Peck." The Mayor didn't even seem aware his aide hadn't spoken a word yet "spare no diligence, I want every charge-"

" _ **NO**_."

"Then we'll- what did you just say?" The mayor turned as Peck spoke. The Ghostbusters turned to stare at him too. Peck stood a few feet behind the Mayor, expression oddly defiant, a box with a tangle of cable clutched in his arms.

"I said no." Peck repeated. The Mayor took a step toward him, expression like thunder.

"I'm going to assume you hit your head and passed out in there, Peck. Stop being a fool and do your JOB!"

" _I'M_ the fool?" Peck cut him off again, expression cold as he glared at his boss "you would prefer we let the city be destroyed by getting rid of these guys? I think you need to cash that reality cheque, mayor. I admit I considered them a waste of time, but I kept telling myself their act was just that of a fraudsters. But what I seen in that news building when I was attacked? The thing that nearly killed me? It was very _REAL_."

The Mayor backed up now as Peck took a step closer, but Walter wasn't finished yet.

"The thing in there, the thing thats now in _HERE_?" Here he held the trap up to show the Mayor, who flinched and backed away, where had Walter gotten that?

"Oops, knew I forgot something.." Peter whispered to the others "he was carrying it since I was helping Ray."

"It was willing to destroy an innocent mans life just to gain control, never mind what it would've done with the rest of us held captive in there! Face it, _SIR_ , we're not escaping those undead things any time soon. Maybe it's time you stopped ignoring what's right in front fo your nose? You shut them down, those ghosts will kill someone sooner or later and I personally will ensure it's traced back to _YOU_."

He stepped back, lobbing the trap to Ray, who unfroze in time to catch it. Peter blinked as Peck flashed him a wry smile, then he addressed the Mayor once more.

"As for my job? You can shove it up your ass, it can keep your head company!" He turned and stalked off, hands shoved in his pockets.

"What the?! **PECK**!" the Mayor fumed.

"And while I'm here," Peck paused and turned back "tell my father the next time you see him; I'm picking a career I want this time and if he doesn't like it, I refer to my threat regarding the job. I'm done."

Then he was gone, swallowed up by the crowds. The mayor shook his head and glared at the Ghostbusters, muttering pathetically about "one more incident.." then he was gone and the car drove silently away, ignoring the press chasing after it.

"Well, huh." Peter scratched his cheek "can't say I expected that."

"He was looking at you guys when he said that bit about shoving the job. What'd you SAY to him? On that note, what'd you **DO** -?" Winston asked.

"I suggested to try telling people not to be asses, like I'm always telling Raymond here." Peter shrugged "believe it or not, he helped save our asses in there."

Egon and Winston stared at him in mute shock.

"I'll explain later." Peter promised.

* * *

At the hospital, Ray's cheek was patched up and he was told it would be unlikely to leave much of a scar, proving he looked after himself. Peter was given meds for his broken ribs and advised to relax. They left the hospital and drove home to where an anxious Janine waited.

Ray was surprised when she ran over and hugged him, feeling close to crying again as he hugged her back.

"I'm sorry," he said as she let him go, wiping her eyes "I didn't meant to act like that-"

"Don't worry about it, we know it wasn't really you." Janine assured him "you've been through a lot, but its over now. Welcome back, Ray."

"Thanks Janine," Ray wiped his eyes with the sleeve of the coat he wore "I'm glad it's over-"

"Hey, where'd you get that coat...it's so fancy?" Janine asked, examining it.

"Huh? Oh, that's right!" Ray blinked at the others "I forgot-! It's Peck's.."

"Peck? Whats he got to do with this?!" Janine scowled.

"Let's have some coffee, then Ray and I will explain the whole story." Peter promised.

* * *

Janine's jaw hit the floor by the end of the story.

"He told the Mayor to shove it?" She looked to Ray, who nodded silently.

"It was as if he reached some kind of breaking point." Stantz shook his head in bemusement. "he mentioned, more or less, that he was forced into politics by his father. I guess that's where he developed such a ruthless streak. Why he suddenly changed his mind, I don't know."

"I think he kinda envied the fun we have," Peter said with a shrug "when we laughed or joked, he looked totally confused. But if it wasn't for his knowledge of medical stuff, we'd have been stuck."

"Yes, you mentioned he has a sister." Egon said, running all the facts through his head "working in an unbearable job can cause stress to build, and when it breaks, such psychological effects can include fits of anger and a desire to change things. Sounds like thats what happened when the Mayor ordered him to turn on us."

"Even though he knew we hated him, he still stuck around." Ray said "and there's one other thing. That molotov wasn't just to distract the ghost."

Peter reached across and squeezed his hand, smiling reassuringly. Ray hadn't been sure how to say this as they'd told Janine and the others the series of events. But he felt like Peck deserved this much…

"Inside the bottle-" he looked at the others around him "wasn't just chemicals. It was a canister of camera film."

Stone silence.

"You mean-?" Janine whispered, eyes wide as Ray nodded.

"He destroyed the film, the photos are gone. He'd realised it was the key, that the ghost was honing in on my fear over the matter, so he destroyed it in front of all of us, asking the ghost what happened when you removed the catalyst?"

"Thats when the spell fell apart," Peter finished, squeezing Ray's hand "I'm guessing you decided to give the world at large another chance, hey?"

Ray smiled sadly, but nodded. He looked tired abruptly and close to passing out.

"Go to bed, you two. Same bed, different ones, doesn't matter! Just go get some sleep." Janine shooed them with one hand, a jokey smile on her face "you look exhausted."

"Sounds like a plan. C'mon Ray, let's crash." Peter ushered his beloved Ghostbuster to the stairs.

* * *

"They're just so adorable." Janine sighed, she was a sucker for romance if she said so herself.

"Yeah, it's good to see Ray smile again, and I know Peter's been losing sleep over all this too. They'll be back to themselves in no time." Winston sighed in relief.

"I must admit I'm still surprised at Peck's actions," Egon mused "I wonder what pushed him to change his mindset?"

"Who knows, the guy's a mystery. Wonder what he's gonna work in now? He was fired from the EPA and he just quit the Mayor's office. After doing that, to his face _AND_ in public, I don't think he'll exactly be welcome in town hall again." Winston pointed out.

"Yeah, the Mayor will probably have him blacklisted. Seems a shame after he finally did something good." Janine shook her head.

* * *

Upstairs, Peter shut the door behind them as they entered the spare room, whereupon Ray wrapped his arms around him and burst into silent tears.

"It's alright, let it out." Peter rubbed his back, letting Ray excise the worry and grief he'd held inside. Hearing such gut-wrenching sobs from the man he'd fallen for made Peter's own heart ache in concern. Once the tears had finally slowed, Peter released him just enough so he could kiss his lips. Ray responded eagerly, feeling the reassuring warmth of Peter's affections like an anchor.

"Is it over?" he asked, shaking as he looked into Peter's eyes. Peter nodded, kissing him again quickly.

"It's over." He promised "Peck destroyed the film, the ghost is gone. You're home, you have all of us to defend you and ME to love you. I wont let anyone take that away."

Ray felt another strong surge of gratitude and kissed Peter deeply, feeling words were not enough.

"Love you too." Peter whispered back after the kiss ended and Ray blushed happily. They changed out of their clothes into pyjamas and curled up together under the covers.

"Peter?"

"Yes, cutie?" Peter asked, nuzzling his nose.

"My office, I made such a mess." Ray looked upset "the memories are flashing back. I'm sorry I caused so much worry-"

"None of this is your fault. Not the office, not the ice around the library, none of it. You're not to worry about it, Dr Venkman says so."

Ray felt his heart ache happily "Thank you, Peter." he whispered.

Peter kissed him softly and added;

"And I'll help you sort out your office, replace anything that was damaged. Don't worry about any of it, OK?"

Ray nodded, snuggling up to Peter and closing his eyes with a happy sigh. He let go of the worry for the moment, just breathing in the scent of Peter's skin and enjoying the warmth of him.

Peter fell asleep eventually, the reassuring sound of Ray's breathing lulling him to sleep.

* * *

But Ray still seemed rather subdued the next morning as they woke. He smiled and returned the loving kisses Venkman lavished on him, but the usual spark was faded, his enthusiasm still recovering.

Peter kissed him on the forehead and heard Ray squeak worriedly. Glancing down, he seen Ray was looking at the bruising on his chest where he'd broken his ribs.

"Raymond Stantz." Peter said sternly, placing a hand under his chin so the red-head had no choice but to meet his eyes "this was **NOT** your fault. Occupational hazard and you know it, I got possessed too, remember that? I'll heal and when I do, you and me are not moving from this bed for at least a day!"

Ray blushed and Peter grinned, nuzzling him and sighing happily at the soft scent of Ray's hair. He nibbled at Ray's neck, feeling him shiver and press closer to him.

* * *

Ray hated leaving Peter behind when the klaxon rang, but Venkman insisted he'd be fine. He lay in bed, watching Ray wriggle into his uniform in his usual harried manner, the red-head pausing to place one last kiss on Venkman before he left.

* * *

Soon as Ray and the others had gone, Peter dressed, wandered downstairs and slumped into a chair beside Janine's desk. She glanced at him, seeing him fidget and bite his lip as he tried to sit in a way that didn't cause the injured ribs to flare.

She got up and fetched a hot water bottle, telling him to rest it on his chest to distract from the pain. Peter thanked her, but he looked exhausted and she got the feeling it wasn't just from the pain.

"He still blaming himself?" she guessed. Peter nodded, sighing softly.

"Ray's always had such a loving view of the world that having that effectively torn apart by that conniving ghost- and before that, Peck – it made him unsure of who he is. I don't know what else to tell him, Janine. Just this morning I had to tell him he wasn't to blame for the broken ribs thing, but I don't think he believed me."

"You can only be there when he needs you Peter," Janine said after he'd fallen silent "Ray needs to re-establish his belief by himself. But honestly? You're the best thing for him right now, he needs someone he can depend on."

Peter smiled sadly, "I just hope I'm enough." he said softly. Janine was worried by how the incident had affected Peter too, he blamed himself for not seeing what'd been wrong with Ray right from the start.

-Those poor boys, they need a day off together...- she made a note to speak to Egon about it later.

* * *

An unexpected face started the recovery as the three Ghostbusters exited a skyscraper office building, two smoking traps in Egon's hands. Just as Ray was turning to follow the other two, his mind disjointed and drifting, a voice called out.

"Hey, wait up!"

Ray stopped, seeing a young man who looked vaguely familiar running towards him.

"Can I help you?" Ray asked dully. The kid stared at him for a second;

"Don't you recognise me? You saved my butt when my car tried to eat me and I acted like a spoiled brat. You yelled at me something fierce."

Ray felt his face turn red and he face-palmed. "I can only apologi-"

"No, that's totally not why I wanted to speak to you, mr- it's Stantz, right?"

"Ray Stantz, yeah." Ray said softly, still puzzled as to what was going on.

"Well, I wanted to say I owe you one."

"For….yelling at you?" Ray cocked his head to the side, genuinely lost. But the kid grinned, looking the opposite of angry like Ray expected.

"Yeah. You were right, I was a brat. After I got home, shock set in and my brother called an ambulance. I told them what'd happened and they said I was lucky to be alive! I realised I owed all of you guys a thank you. That got me thinking about things and I decided to start over. I sold my car, bought a computer and now I'm working for my brother's company. It's thanks to you, nobody ever gave me a reality check quite the way you did."

"Oh, I see. Well I'm glad you're finding your way, I envy you." Ray said before he could stop himself.

"Huh, why? You're a Ghostbuster man, that's the coolest thing ever!"

"So I've been told," Ray sighed and the kid blinked, his saviour seemed oddly depressed.

"Someone try to sue you guys again? Cant believe that even happened once-"

"No, no...although the Mayor's ticked off as ever, but what else is new?" Ray shrugged, affecting a smile.

"Well, whatever's got you down, it wont last forever. Keep on trucking, hey?" He grinned at Ray and the Ghostbuster felt a small spark of hope flare to life. He'd made a positive effect to this kid's life.

"See you round, mr Stantz," he gave Ray a business card "let me know if you guys ever need that awesome car of yours fixed up, I can get you a major discount!"

Then he was gone and Ray looked down at the card, seeing it was for a high-end auto repair company. He smiled and tucked it into his pocket, feeling a little lighter as he returned to join the others who were waiting by the car.

"Everything OK, Ray?" Winston asked, seeing hope in Ray's previously dampened expression.

"Mm-hmm, just a fan who wanted to pass on his thanks." Ray said cryptically as he got into the car. Egon and Winston shared puzzled glances, but if Ray was happy, they didn't need an explanation.

* * *

Peter was back in the reception when the guys arrived back later that day, the trio having been ferried from case to case via the radio. His eyes locked on Ray as the Ghostbuster got out of the car, seen his eyes light up a fraction as he trotted over to greet Peter.

"How was work?" Peter asked, letting his hands come to rest at the man's waist, studying his sweet Raymonds face.

"It was...good." Ray smiled, a tentative hope reflected in his smile. Peter smiled back, brushing a thumb across Ray's cheek, being careful to avoid the still-healing cut from the ghost encounter.

"When do you have to go back to the hospital?" he asked and Ray thought for a moment.

"Next week." he said at last "I'll be glad to, the stitches feel weird. Itchy, too..."

"Yeah, I remember having them a few times in college." Peter chuckled.

"Was that from the underwear-flagpole incident?" Winston couldn't help ask as he returned from the basement with Egon in time to hear this.

"Nah, the one where I got drunk and fell down the stairs." Peter answered and Winston snorted in amusement.

Ray smiled, recalling Peter telling him that story the same night they'd first slept together, back in Morrisville. Peter caught his eye and winked subtly, making ray blush. He wanted to hug Peter so bad, but had to be mindful of the bruising from his ribs.

* * *

Later that evening, after a snuggle-filled shower, the duo were back in the spare room and getting dressed for bed. Ray seen Peter wince as he tried to shrug his shirt off, and very gently gave him him a hand. Setting the shirt aside, he traced the bruises with his fingertips, recalling hearing Peter's voice as he'd been trapped behind the wall of ice. His fingers were suddenly clasped in Peter's and brought to Venkman's lips, where he kissed them gently.

"I'll heal." he repeated his statement from earlier "and I intend to make good on my promise, Raymond. You, me and the bed."

Ray flushed happily, heart pounding.

"I look forward to it." he teased, making Peter grin.

"The doctor said no strenuous activity, but I don't think kissing counts as strain, do you?" he queried and Ray beamed, allowing himself to be led to bed, where they soon became tangled in one another, exchanging words between kisses until they grew sleepy.

* * *

While they were relaxing, Janine was having a chat with Egon, suggesting that they find a day where Peter and Ray could take off together.

"Sounds good, I think its best to wait a little, however. At least until Peter's ribs heal a little more."

Janine nodded, seeing what he was getting at.

* * *

And so the days passed, Ray seeming to edge out of his shell a little each day with Peter's support. He told him about the kid who'd given him the business card and Peter smiled, relieved to see Ray seeming more hopeful again.

The stitches were removed form the cut on his cheek, only a very faint scar left behind. Peter planted a kiss on it one evening and Ray chuckled, saying it tickled!

Egon told the two of them they had the next day off, surprising them both. But Egon wouldn't take no for an answer, insisting that it was just what they needed and neither could really argue.

* * *

So it was that they got to lie in bed as the Ectomobile roared off down the street outside. Ray leaned across and nuzzled at the curve of Peter's throat, making the sleepy brunette murmur softly. Ray smiled, moving down to his collarbone and nibbling lightly. This sensitive spot made Peter groan ever deeper and his eyes fluttered open in time for Ray's lips to snare his. He kissed him at great length, his hands snaking up under Ray's nightshirt and tracing his sides. They parted, mussy-haired and flushed, but happy.

"Hey, you." Peter said, eyes gleaming in the morning light.

"Hey." Ray said softly, moving so he straddled Peter's lap, resting his hands either side of his lover's head and kissing him.

Peter groaned, biting his lip as Ray nibbled on his earlobe.

-I don't care if it makes the doctor angry, this cutie requires a good loving.-

Ray squeaked as one of Peter's hands slipped beneath his underwear, tracing his inner thigh with his thumb and sending a jolt up his back.

"Peter- what about your ribs-?" Ray began, but cut off as an even stronger thrill raced up his back, Peter's hand slipping further upwards.

"I'm healed enough." Peter whispered in his lovers ear "the only doctor I need is Dr Stantz."

He sat himself up, guiding Ray onto his lap as he slipped the nightshirt of his sweet Ghostbuster off over his head and kissed Ray's chest, right where that gentle heart of his beat. Ray looked so cute, flushed and bright eyed, his body warm and soft.

Peter secured him with one arm around his waist while the other slipped between his partner's legs.

Ray moaned urgently, pressing against Peter's chest as he felt familiar hands caressing him.

"So tempting, aren't you my sweet Raymond?" Peter purred, keeping him captive against his chest as he explored him.

From there, it was an unstoppable shift to heated, passionate lovemaking.

"You, my dear Raymond, are simply adorable." Peter whispered as they moved apart, Ray sliding off his lap to sit on the bed with his legs tucked up under him. The golden sunlight poured in the window, highlighting the lines and curves of Ray's body. Peter noticed he seemed to radiate an energy that was almost infectious, eyes bright from excitement and desire.

Ray noticed Peter was just flat-out staring at him and blushed like a nervous teenager, asking what was on Peter's mind?

"You, Ray." Peter answered truthfully "just **YOU** , _all_ of you."

Ray felt a jab of adoration as he seen that faintly shy look on Venkman's face. He leaned closer, tracing a hand up Peter's chest to rest over his heart.

"Don't forget about _YOU_ , Peter."

"What did I do?" Peter asked "you're the one who pulled out a miracle to reunite me and my father, to show I'm worth a damn."

"Did you forget Morrisville?" Ray teased, nuzzling his nose "you saved me from falling into a bad relationship, proved I deserved better-" he blushed suddenly, but plucked up the courage to voice what was on his mind "and you made my first time just…. _amazing_."

Peter was the one to blush bright red now, hearing such a sweet confession from Raymond. He recalled how shy Ray had been, so adorably anxious over the fact he'd been innocent, untouched.

"Nobody had ever made me feel that certain about myself before." Ray smiled happily, taking in how gorgeous Peter looked. His gentle eyes, that chocolaty brown hair, the soft plump of his lips-

Peter squeaked as Ray suddenly pounced him, kissing his lips hungrily. They parted, eyes meeting and they both began to laugh giddily, feeling stupidly, crazily free.

* * *

After breakfast (in bed), Peter persuaded Ray to come with him for a little shopping. Ray daydreamed as they walked along familiar streets, only snapping out of it when he realised where Peter had brought them.

The comic store.

"Peter?" he asked, curious.

"I made a note of the ones that were damaged, I figured we can start rebuilding the ones that were lost."

Ray felt his heart pound at Peters words, there was more there than just an offer of replacing comics. He waned to help Ray get over the incident and Ray felt a strong surge of gratitude mixed with nerves.

But the usual surge of delight he felt when entering this treasure trove of art barely felt like a spark right now. But he forced a smile for Peters sake as they perused the aisles of neatly organised boxes, some stacked high on shelves. Peter was studiously peering at a list he'd made and Ray spaced out briefly, recalling the way he'd felt as that thing had turned him against his beloved hobby.

"Hey." Peter's fingers tapped Ray's wrist and the red-head blinked out of his daze, feeling his skin tingling from the momentary contact.

"Sorry." Ray said softly.

"It'll be OK." Peter assured him as he set the lid back on the cardboard storage box. In his arms were a bundle of comics whose covers looked reassuringly familiar, and this flicker of hope warred with his ongoing malaise.

Right then he seen a flash of reddish-blonde hair and turned his head in time to see a young girl trying to tug a box on the shelf above her head towards her. Ray seen it reach its tipping point and instinctively grabbed for it, halting it before it hit the girl.

"Eek!" she ducked her head, then slowly opened her eyes when she didn't feel the box come crashing down.

"It's OK, I got it." she straightened up as a kindly red-headed man knelt beside her, setting the box down "here ya go."

"Thanks mister." she smiled.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" he asked and she told him the comic she was after.

"It's my birthday present, my Uncle Walt said he'd let me pick lots of comics!"

"Thats a great present!" Ray beamed, sitting on the floor. He flicked through the comics, pulling out and setting aside the ones the caught the girls eye.

"You like comics too?" she asked as Ray set the chosen comics in her hands, he nodded.

"I have-" he cut off "Had a big collection, but...some got lost."

"Aww, thats not fair." the girl said sadly and Ray managed a smile again, assuring her he'd rebuild it. And who knew, maybe he'd find new comics in his search?

She beamed brightly, then spotted someone behind where Peter stood.

"Uncle Walt!" she cried, standing up and racing over "lookit! I found the comics, this nice man helped me-!"

Ray stood, and both he and Peter turned. Their eyes fell on the girls "uncle", and they stared, Peter in surprise and Ray unease.

"Uncle Walt" was none other than Walter Peck. Ray almost didn't recognise him, he wore ordinary slacks and a shirt today. He looked happily down at his pint sized relative, ruffling her hair and congratulating her on her find as she passed the issues to him. When he straightened up, her line about a nice man helping her sunk in and he glanced up, opening his mouth to thank them-

But he suddenly found himself tongue tied. It was those two, Venkman and Stantz. Venkman seemed- it was hard to read him, he wasn't showing much emotion beyond indifference. But Stantz was clearly nervous, judging by the way he got swiftly to his feet and backed up a step instinctively.

"I think we've found enough for today, Peter-"

"Please, just wait a moment." Peck blurted and his niece blinked up at her Uncle, wondering if he was OK? She tugged on his sleeve, asking was he alright?

"I'm fine, pumpkin. Just...thirsty!" he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Can we go get a milkshake?" she asked, pointing to the cafe on the comic shops top floor.

Peck nodded, then looked at the two plain-clothes Ghostbusters "At least let me get you some coffee, our last attempt didn't go so well."

Ray nodded, recalling the fuzzy memory of the encounter in the library. He'd been acting crazy that whole day….

* * *

They bought the various comics they'd both come there for and Peter and Ray followed Peck and his excitable little niece upstairs to the cafe. Peck let her go play in the kids area, he could see her from where they sat so he could keep an eye on her whilst he made an attempt to speak with Stantz and Venkman.

"If it's any consolation, I stand by what I said to the Mayor." he gave a shrug "I was wrong, ghosts are dangerous and they need Ghostbusters to stop them from tearing the city apart."

"Well, usually I'd make a joke about flyin' pigs." Peter shrugged "but I'll go easy on ya and just say: "well there's something you don't hear every day.""

Peck chuckled faintly, he never had much time for fun, but Peter's sarcastic humour was rather amusing. He heard Ray chuckle and seen how happy the red-head was.

"Everything that happened," Peck sighed, feeling his head ache dully as he spoke what'd been weighing on his mind ever since the hospital "it was my fault. I took those pictures, brought them to that newspaper and awakened that thing."

"Well, it would've woken anyway-" Ray began "These things don't usually stay asleep once they've been disturbed."

"Even so, I doubt there was darker cruelty then what I tried to do to you both. The fact you still endeavoured to save me, Dr Stantz-"

"I couldn't let you get hurt- a person-"

"-Is a person, no matter how screwed up they are. Yes, your uh, 'other half' mentioned that."

"Peter did?" Ray looked adorably perplexed and Peter, who'd been taking a sip of coffee, promptly began coughing, face flushing as he was caught off guard by Rays delightful innocence. He set the coffee cup down, giggling merrily.

Peck bit back a laugh, seeing the way these two interacted was fascinating, the way they reacted and laughed.

"Peter, you ok? Sorry about that." Ray studied the brunette, who was trying so hard not to laugh out loud that he was bordering on crying.

Finally, he stopped giggling, shaking his head and wiping his eyes.

"Never change, Ray." he giggled "that was brilliant!"

Ray face-palmed, groaning.

"Uh...I was referring to the other "personality" you were stuck with." Peck didn't realise it, but he was actually smiling "it mentioned those words specifically."

"Maybe I still had control? I'm afraid my memories are kinda jumbled up." Ray sighed sadly, toying with a sugar packet.

"I realised, when that thing took over, just how much damage I'd caused already and how much would follow if that film wasn't destroyed."

"Why do it to begin with?" Peter said, sobering up "was all this born of my telling you to shove off and get a warrant that time?"

"In honesty? Yes." Peck said, after a few moments thought "I was trying to bully my way through and you just smirked and looked as smug as the day is long." he looked at Peter as he spoke, who snorted in amusement.

"It's his default." Ray said cutely, studiously ignoring the mock-glower Venkman aimed at him. Peter stared until he heard Ray snicker into his coffee then smirked triumphantly as he faced Peck again.

Again, Peck felt that sense of emptiness, like he wished he could've had times like this, a bond that strong. But politics wasn't meant for friends, it was more like who you could suck up to that'd get you further.

He sighed, picking up where he'd stopped "I was furious that this whole ghost business had taken over New York, it seemed so asinine and ludicrous I couldn't believe any of it was real. The EPA fired me after the incident and my father got me the job with the Mayor, saying I was better suited to that kind of task."

"Did you seriously quit the Mayors office job? I kinda thought I'd imagined it..." Ray asked, half thinking it'd been a figment of his imagination. Peck winced and Peter watched him closely, seeing he was oddly conflicted about it.

"Yes, I essentially destroyed any chance at a career I had when I shouted at the Mayor, yet I would do it again and again if I had the chance." he smiled sadly, taking a sip of coffee "yet, as liberating as it was to leave such a message for my father, he wasted no time in trying to make me regret it and come crawling back."

"What'd he do?" Peter was slightly unnerved by the mental image he was getting of Walter's father by this point.

"He made sure that I can never work in politics again, informed me there was no need for me to visit at Christmas and that he was disappointed I followed in my sisters footsteps by making a fool of him."

"Wow." Peter was silent, then in a hushed tone "your dad's an asshole!"

"Peter!" Ray scolded gently.

"No, he is." Walter said dully. "he's from a long line of prominent politicians. As his sole male offspring, it fell to me to carry on his work. He made an effort to get my sister into some kind of political work, but she left home to become a doctor and never looked back. More fool me, I thought gaining my father's approval was worth the nightmares."

"So what'll you do now?" Ray asked. Walter shrugged, shaking his head.

"I really don't know. Sooner or later I'll have to move out of my apartment, the rent on that place is extortionate. My sister says she knows a realtor who can help.." he trailed off dully, shrugging as if it meant nothing. But the two Ghostbusters seen the bags under his eyes, the listless expression hiding behind his paper-thin mask. Ray shared a glance with Peter, looking genuinely worried.

"How could your own father DO that?" Stantz asked and last and Peck snapped out of his daze.

"Easy, he only cares about reputation. By resigning the way I did, he views me as a disgrace and as far as he's concerned, no longer related to him. It's just how he's always been. Nothing I can do about it now, except hope that if he ever re-marries, that his next wife wont take any of his crap."

"We certainly wont, from him or the Mayor!" Ray said with a huff of annoyance "I cant stand that kind of treatment."

He trailed off, wincing as he seen Peck flinch subtly "No offence."

"No, I deserved that. Ive had a lot of time to think about the last few years and after going over all those memories, I realise now that I REALLY hated my job. I just kept convincing myself otherwise and soon started turning into my dad, bitter and twisted."

"Politics does bad things to good people." Ray said softly "that's what my Aunt Lois always tells me. She says it's all just hot air and boasting during election season."

"My dad asked why, if it's called election "season", how come he cant shoot them?" Peter quipped, making both Ray and Peck almost choke on their drinks.

"I'm surprised the Mayor never followed up on that last threat about shutting us down after you told him to shove it." Peter frowned as a serious thought occurred to him as the other two caught their breath "call me cynical, but I don't trust the guy."

Walter uttered a snort "neither did I and I was his aide! But if he hasn't done anything by now, I'd say you're clear. The fuss I kicked off was public enough that he likely wont want to dig that hole any deeper for a while."

"I dunno, he's pretty determined." Peter grumbled. Ray nodded, hands wrapped around the mug of coffee, the warmth of the liquid making him feel a little better.

A soft beeping filled their ears and Walter turned off his watch, looking at the display.

"I'd better get this little princess back to her mother, we're having a special birthday dinner tonight. I guess that's the silver lining to all this, I have time to get to know her now, instead of just flying visits when I'm not at work."

He took a deep breath, feeling some of the tension evaporate as he stood, one last thing left to say;

"I know it's a pathetic gesture, but I'm sorry. I was always too gung-ho, too stubborn to think your whole operation was anything but a sham. Even when my stupidity resulted in that containment thing blowing up, I still didn't learn. Who knows, maybe I'll find a job I'll enjoy, anythings better than going back into politics even if I could!"

Peter watched him closely, seeing how tired Peck was. It was pretty obvious the mans change in attitude was genuine. Ray's blood donation had saved his life, made him think. Then getting caught up in the consequences of his vendetta had brought home just how dangerous that sort of thing could be.

The little girl came running over to hug her uncle and smile at the Ghostbusters.

"Thank you, Dr Stantz." Peck said as he clasped his niece's hand "you didn't have to do what you did, donating blood to save me. But I'm grateful you did. I have a chance to do something better now, I'll figure it out somehow."

Ray nodded, getting up from the table to hold a hand out to Walter, who looked surprised but didn't hesitate to shake it. What was even more surprising was Peter following suit, something like a friendly expression on his face.

"Bye bye Uncle Walt's friends!" the little girl cheered as she was scooped up in her Uncle's arms and they headed for the stairs.

"Cute kid." Peter said and Ray nodded.

"I'm glad he's feeling free, it sounds like his dad was a total control freak. I know I'd be bitter if that'd happened to me. I was lucky, my parents encouraged my daydreaming, my comics AND my imagination."

"Yeah, and you turned out a total cutie." Peter murmured, making Ray beam. They left not long after, with Ray seeming happier as they walked home.

* * *

Peter escorted him to his office and when they walked in, there was a loud chorus of cheers and Slimer burbling.

"W-whats happening?" Ray blinked in the sudden brightness. Egon, Janine, Winston and Slimer were all standing in his office, smiling at him.

"We thought we'd help get your office back to how it was, so you can leave all that unpleasantness behind you." Egon said with a smile.

"So we put together some new shelves, new displays-" Janine added, gesturing with a flourish to the new shiny office.

"AND, we baked a cake. Slimer decorated it.." Winston chuckled, indicating the crazy medley of icing on the cake atop the desk. Ray felt the final barrier of reluctance shatter and collapse at the sight of the gift his friends had given him.

"It's- I love it, you guys!"

His vision blurred with happy tears and Janine hugged him tightly.

For a few minutes all Ray could do was cry from happiness, he felt happier than he'd thought possible. He took a deep breath, using his sleeve to dry his eyes. Peter slipped an arm around his waist and caught his eye, smiling happily.

"Did you know about this?" he asked his lover and Peter nodded once.

"Surprise, Raymond!" he grinned, "Like I said, nothings going to stop us doing what we do, why?"

Ray recalled this sentence "because we're awesome?" he asked.

"Dang straight." Peter ruffled his hair.

"Hell yeah." Winston added, with Janine, Egon and Slimer backing him up. The green ghost hugged Ray, clapping his hands and babbling away. Ray grinned, feeling light headed from delight.

They shared some cake, had a laugh and in the process brought light and laughter back to Ray, making him associate his office and hobbies with the happier times again.

* * *

"This is.." When they were alone, the others downstairs making dinner, Ray looked up at Peter "It's amazing."

"As are YOU." Peter said firmly, slipping his arms around Rays waist holding stantz against his chest as he looked down at the gentle-mannered red-head. "It's good to see you smile again and I mean truly smile, my Raymond. I know you've been feeling pretty down and I knew I couldn't help you by myself. So when Egon suggested this, I was all for it. While they set this up, I figured I'd take you out for the day and replace some of what you lost."

"You did all that and more." Ray whispered, clutching Peter's collar as he kissed him on the lips, whispering as they parted "and I don't just mean the comics. You stayed with me even when I felt like my worst, you kept showing me reasons why I shouldn't give up. Shouldn't change who I am-"

This time, HE was kissed fiercely and he wrapped his arms around Peters neck, groaning hungrily as they shared several deep kisses, parting only to draw breath before drawing together again. Soon, their lips were numb and tingly, faces flushed and Ray could feel his heart racing like crazy.

"Never change Ray, you're too sweet. You convinced the most cynical guy on earth to give his father a second chance, to forgive even the worst people. The world, and New York, needs people like you. So don't you dare stop being so adorable, got it?"

Ray flushed, grinning at Peter and nodded, earning a kiss and a cheeky ass-squeeze. He squeaked as Peter winked at him, then they burst out laughing.

* * *

But the surprises weren't over yet. Later that night as they got into bed in the spare room, Ray suddenly pinned Peter to the bed.

"Raymond?" Peter raised an eyebrow "something on your mind?"

"Mm-hmm.." Ray teased, kissing Peter and pressing his body against Venkman's.

"I was thinking how I could thank you, Peter, for everything. And I had an idea. You've been putting in all the effort to help me feel good, now it's my turn."

Peter felt a flush of heat run down his spine, settling in his stomach and moving lower down as Ray kissed him again, his fingers undoing Peter's pyjamas….

It was Peter's turn to scrunch the bedsheets beneath him and gasp his lovers name as Ray laid a trail of kisses from his throat to his knees, then along the insides of his legs as he moved them up and apart..

Those same gentle hands that assembled complex machinery and soldered wires now explored him and seductively teased what was to come…

Peter wrapped his arms around Ray's neck as the red-head began, giving himself over to his beloved Raymond.

* * *

"Two words Ray; heck. _**YES**_." Peter panted heavily as Ray moved back to lie beside him. He pulled the man into his arms, kissing him as the echoes of Ray's thank you raced salaciously up his spine.

"Glad I could do you proud." Ray joked, the deliberate innuendo making Peter laugh, grin, then kiss Ray as reward. They cosied up together and drifted asleep, feeling safe and content..

But there was someone else out there that needed the Ghostbusters help, Ray and Peter's in particular...


End file.
